In This Together
by joudama
Summary: Once upon a time, there were two boys from Banora.
1. A Series of Firsts

**Title:** A Series of Firsts

**Author:** joudama

**Fandom:** Final Fantasy 7 (Crisis Core)

**Rating:** G

**Word count:** 4300ish

**Summary:** As long as they were together, she figured, everything would be fine.

**A/N:** This started out covering the first two years Gen and Angeal were in school, then it did what all my fic did, and got too long. So this is just the first year; the second year is going to be the fic "Temper Tantrums and Breaking Pencils." This is a bit short, alas. The next story will have more of an actual story, promise. ^^;; Also, I'm not that happy with this; I've been pretty sick lately and off my game, and I'm terribly afraid it shows... I apologize in advance if this isn't up to my normal level.

The town of "Tanava" comes from the river "Tanais" (also Tanakvísl) which is where the Vanir clan of gods connected to fertility and _apples _are from, in Vanaland. And go on, ask me how close "Vanir" and "Vanaland" in katakana are to "Banora." Go on. Dare ya (hint: when I played CC and before I knew it was "Banora," I interpreted the katakana as "_Vanola_.") XD

Yes, I am the founder of the Overthinker's Club, and there is indeed a _reason_ why I should never be allowed loose on wikipedia unsupervised. ^^;;

And nakedly stealing from my own life, what happens to Gen and Angeal with reading is so genked from my own first grade experience. I taught myself to read when I was three, and when I got to first grade, my teacher was WTFing hard core over what to do with a first grader who could not only read, but was reading at a third grade reading level. XD;; I was ahead of all my reading classes until 3rd grade, when they gave me "free reading" for nearly the entire year until they caught people up. Yeah, I was a nerd even then. ^^;;

Also, with about the way languages are taught, I'm sort of genking how Taiwan and China does it with learning Mandarin--starting the first year in the native 'dialect', then switching over to the 'standard' language. So the first two years of school in Banora are taught in Mideelian, but everything after that is taught only in Standard. This is why pretty much everyone on the planet can speak Standard--it's what they learn and use at school, even if they don't use it at home, and so are fully fluent.

...I'll stop being as much of a nerd now. ^^;;

--

She'd known the day was coming, of course, but still, there was nothing that really prepared you for the reality of going to register your child for school. Gillian took Angeal with her, of course--he was far too young to be left alone for long, for all Angeal was a good boy who never caused problems or got into mischief...much. Overly prim and fussy though he was, he _was _still only five-going-on-six years old, and that was old enough to make a mess of things.

So she took him with her when she went to register him. Banora was small, yes, but there were enough children in Banora and from the other nearby little village, Tanava, to make a small school, one with only or two homerooms per grade. And enough children to make Angeal cling tightly to her skirts the whole day. Angeal tended to stay close anyway, and was shy around strangers. She worried, a little, at it--she and Angeal had kept to themselves in Banora much of the time, since small towns were insular things and she wasn't from around there, and she'd shown up unmarried with a baby to boot, something a bit much for such a small village to take.

And Gillian had never been around children much until she had her own--the first time she'd had to change a diaper she'd been more than the slightest bit flummoxed--and half the time she'd worried she was doing something wrong. She had been a scientist; nothing in her life of dissecting and analysis had prepared her for having a child, or for the emotions that went along with it, and no one who could have told her--her mother had died when she was young enough that Gillian had only faint, faded flashes of the warmth of arms, of pale, serious eyes and reddish brown hair, and of the faint scent of copper that made some part of her mind recoil whenever it came to her; her father had been a gentle man, but still as much a scientist as she and far more comfortable with _books_ than with people, and even if she'd thought for a second he might have possibly understood, he'd been twenty years older than Gillian's mother and had passed not long after she'd begun work on Project G and so hadn't been around to ask.

She wondered, sometimes, if it hadn't been the death of her father--the last of her family--that perhaps had added to the strange rush of feelings, so irrational and completely unlike her, when it came to Angeal. It had started the first time she had felt him moving, felt him kicking and realized she was truly carrying a child, a _baby_, _her_ baby, and there had been no way, not after she'd seen him for the first time and the insane rush of feelings and panic that she'd felt when they took her baby away after she delivered him, that she could have prepared herself for it. She'd known, rationally, that there were just going to clean him and make sure he was healthy and do some other tests, but she hadn't been able to keep the insane panic at bay, or control herself when they took her baby.

She knew intellectually that it was normal; had read that women had an irrational reaction right after birth, but nothing had prepared her for the reality, and nothing had prepared her for deciding, in that split second when the doors shut behind them as they _took her baby away_, that ShinRa couldn't have him. And it hadn't been easy, and if it hadn't been for the fact that Hojo's experiment had proved to have better results than her own, she never would have been able to leave with him. As it was, they had only allowed her to leave on the condition that she moved to Banora, so she could be there to monitor Hollander's first attempt. Not that she really had; she and the Rhapsodoses moved in different circles--but they knew who she was and why she was there, and in his early infancy with them she had on more than one occasion gone to check on him, but those had dropped off as he and Angeal grew and she grew busy herself. They spoke by phone for updates, which she sent to ShinRa, and she trusted that if there was a problem, they would contact her.

So she really wasn't too familiar with children, and she was almost taken aback at seeing that Angeal seemed smaller than the other boys running around the playground wildly. And he showed no inclination to go play himself; he watched them all wide-eyed and clutched at her skirts as if he had no idea what to make of them.

It was, she thought, probably a good thing Angeal was not as much a "success" as Hojo's Sephiroth; she just couldn't see him being groomed to be a perfect weapon.

They had just reached the door to the school, past the playground, when she heard Angeal give a little gasp and clutch tighter at her skirts. "Angeal?" she asked, wondering what had happened.

Angeal was staring over at the playground with his mouth hanging open just slightly, his eyes wide. "Angeal?"

She wondered just what he was staring at and followed his line of sight, and her eyes went a little wide as she realized what had caught his attention--another little boy, slim and fast-moving and too pretty by _half_, with red hair that stood out immediately from the children around him.

Genesis Rhapsodos.

She'd always known this day was coming; in a town as small as Banora and as school as small as Banora and Tanava's, they were bound to meet, and had always wondered what would happen--would they somehow be drawn to each other, knowing they were different from everyone around, or would they treat each other as just another person? She'd always wondered, and now, seeing how Angeal was staring at Genesis and Genesis was staring back, she knew.

Angeal looked up at her with wide eyes, and she smiled. "You should go say hello," she said gently. The two boys had been kept away from each other, and she'd always wondered how good of an idea that was. And Angeal was a shy little thing to boot, today showing her almost painfully just how much he was; he had always preferred to stay close to her instead of going out and playing in the fields like she'd always seen other little boys doing. He was a good boy, quiet and serious--sometimes too _serious_, she sometimes thought--and always trying to help. He would push himself, trying--just a few days ago he'd tried to carry a bag far too heavy for him and dropped it; he'd been upset at dropping it, and when she said he should have told her it was heavy, he'd gotten that serious look on his face that was too old for him and said "but if I didn't carry it, Mama'd have to, and it was _heavy_!" through his sniffles, and she'd hugged him very tightly.

There were days were Gillian was very, very glad that ShinRa had lost interest in her son as soon as Hojo's S-project proved itself 'superior.'

Angeal bit his lip and didn't say anything, just clutched a little more at her skirts. He looked torn, and she was about to encourage him again when he clutched even tighter at her skirts, and she looked over to see Genesis heading straight towards them.

He stopped right in front of them and stared straight at Angeal, completely ignoring Gillian, to the point where she felt slightly insulted and self-conscious.

"I'm Genesis. What's your name?" the little boy said, and the way he had his head tilted up was so much like his adoptive father's that Gillian had to bite back a smile at it.

"...Angeal," Angeal said softly, so quietly it was almost a whisper.

Genesis tilted his head and frowned a little. "Your name is weird," Genesis said. "Why's your name weird?"

Angeal looked at his feet and didn't say anything at first, fisting his mother's skirts. Gillian felt the urge to jump in and say something, but she waited a little, just to see what her son would do. It was true; his name wasn't anything like the people around here; she was Visgradian, after all, and his name reflected that. The only reason Angeal even understood the dialect around Banora that Genesis was using was that the old woman who would watch him when Gillian went out spoke it to him and he had picked it up from her; by now Gillian understood and could use it, but she'd always spoken to Angeal in Standard.

Angeal finally answered Genesis. "Dunno."

Genesis grinned suddenly. "It's weird but I like it."

Angeal looked up, surprised. "I...I like my name, too," he said, almost shyly. "Even if it's kinda weird."

"Race you to the tree at the very end of the row!" Genesis said suddenly, pointing.

Angeal looked at Gillian once. She nodded, and he gave her a huge smile before he let go of her skirts and stepped out from behind her, and they took off as fast as they could run without another word between them.

She watched him running off, leaving her behind, and she felt a pang she had only felt that day he was born, when that door had closed behind the doctors as they took her son _away_.

--

The first day of school was oddly enough easier than going to register him. She supposed it was because she'd had time to mentally prepare herself for this being hard...and some part of her couldn't deny that Angeal's worried enthusiasm was infectious. The boy fretted over things, but she suspected it was a lot less than it would have been had he not met Genesis. The whole day after they had met, all Angeal could talk about was the games he had played with Genesis, and Gillian had a hard time keeping a smile off of her face to see him so animate about something. He was worried about school, but he was mainly excited to be see Genesis again.

She had walked hand in hand with him down to the school, but as soon as they got the the school grounds, he saw Genesis following one of the Rhapsodos servants, and his face had lit up.

"Genesis!" he yelled, and waved, all but squirming with energy, and Gillian couldn't help but laugh. He didn't notice, all of his attention on Genesis, who had looked over, saw him, and grinned a bright smile before running over, completely ignoring the servant's, "Wait, Master Genes--!"

Angeal's face lit up even more, and he grabbed Genesis's hand with his free one. Genesis's eyes got wide for a moment, then gave Angeal another grin.

"Master Genesis!" the servant finally gasped, having run over to them.

"You can go home," he said, not even looking at her. "I'm going with them. Bye."

The woman's jaw dropped and she blinked, then shook her head. "But, I have to--"

Gillian smiled. "Don't worry, I'll see them in."

The woman sighed. "Thanks," she said, and shook her head before giving Gillian the paper with Genesis's home room, and turning around and heading back.

Gillian glanced at it as they walked, and let out a sigh of relief.

Genesis and Angeal were in the same homeroom, and that got rid of one stupid little worry--she knew he'd have a friend.

--

The first class after lunchtime of the first day of school, the first grade homeroom teacher looked out at all of his students and gave them a bright smile, hoping the kids would take his overexcited appearance and run with it.

"Guess what we're doing now? We're all going to learn to read!" Mr. Athanasiadis said, smiling and looking like it was a big, amazing thing.

Most of the kids got wide-eyed and looked a bit excited because of how he phrased it, but one student, Genesis--the little boy who had stood out from the first, so much so that Mr. Athanasiadis already knew his name and who had already managed to become the kids all the others looked to by the time the first class ended--blinked. "But I know how to read!" he said, sounding surprised, like he thought everyone can.

"Me, too," the little little boy sitting next to Genesis, "Angeal" according to his nametag, and there was no way that name was Mideelian, said softly, then looking around wide-eyed at how the other kids were staring at them.

Mr. Athanasiadis' own eyes widened slightly. "You two already know how to read?"

Genesis nodded, one eyebrow going up and looked slightly perplexed, like the question was insane. "I learned to read when I was three. I like reading!" he said proudly.

"And you can read, too?" Mr. Athanasiadis, turning to Angeal. Angeal nodded, biting the corner of his lip.

"Mama taught me," he said shyly.

"Can you read Standard?" he asked, and when both children gave him blank looks, he asked again, this time switching languages, into Standard.

And rather quickly, as if his name hadn't been a big enough clue, the fact that Angeal Hewely was Not From Around Here became obvious, because he smiled shyly, and answered back in perfect, Midgar-accented Standard.

"Yes. Like I said, Mama taught me. But I don't know how to read, um, the what you were saying before, they way you were talking."

"In Mideelian," Mr. Athanasiadis said. "They're different languages. Languages are large groups of words," he said, sticking to Standard while all the other children stared at them blankly. Everyone except Genesis; Athanasiadis remembered suddenly that Genesis was the mayor's child; the boy had probably been given private lessons in Standard, then. "We're speaking Standard now, but before we were speaking Mideelian."

"Oh, so _that's_ what they're called," Angeal said.

Athanasiadis smiled faintly. "What about you, Genesis?"

Genesis nodded, still with a faint 'are you stupid?' look on his face. "Yes, I know Standard," he said, no hesitation at all in the speed of his answer. "I started learning when I was _really _little."

When he was "little." Which meant he'd probably had Standard lessons most of his life, and that lead Mr. Athanasiadis to the thought of never mind the reading classes, what on the Ferryman's Way was he going to do during _Standard_ classes with students who _already_ spoke Standard?

Most children didn't even begin to learn Standard until they started school, after all, and even children's shows aimed for young children tended to be in Mideelian. First grade was taught in Mideelian with Standard lessons every day, then math was switched over to Standard in second grade, and third grade and up were only taught in Standard. Reading was done first in Mideelian, and they were taught to read and write Standard starting second grade, once the kids had the fundamentals of reading and writing down. So for Angeal, at least, that punted one problem slightly down the road, since even if he could read Standard, he couldn't read Mideelian, so he could stay in class with everyone else for that. But as for Genesis...

Mr. Athanasiadis bit back a sigh, put Genesis as class monitor, and left quickly. He came back with a stack of readers and, through cajoling and outright bribery, another teacher who had been on her free period to watch the class, then pulled Angeal and Genesis into the back of the room and sat them down. It took most of the hour, but Genesis and Angeal went through the stacks of books, reading aloud while the teacher blinked at them. The two of them were _fluent_ in Standard; Angeal was actually better with Standard then he was with Mideelian--which made him suspect that was why the boy seemed so shy; everyone around him was speaking a language he wasn't quite as good at--and the teacher had no idea whatsoever what to do with them. Angeal would be able to stay with the class for learning to read and write Mideelian, but that would be a step backwards for him, since aside from the holdover into dates in Standard, Mideelian as a written language was only for children nowadays, and everyone used Standard. Genesis, though, he had no idea. The boy could read Mideelian as well as Standard, and he had the feeling Standard lessons aimed at kids who maybe could count in Standard and that was all, would bore him and Angeal stupid...and he had been teaching long enough to recognize that there were some children who would destroy the classroom if they were _bored_. Angeal looked like he would studiously pay attention anyway or at worst tune out and stare into space, but Genesis looked like the sort that you never, ever wanted _bored_, not unless you wanted your class to turn into a daily nightmare and to be driven to drink.

A sudden, _brilliant_ idea hit him. There was no way he could move Genesis to the upper classes for reading, but he could easily _distract_ him. He'd charge Genesis with "helping" Angeal with Mideelian, which would keep him out of Mr. Athanasiadis' hair, and quite possibly punt the problem of what to do with their reading classes to next semester, if not hopefully next _year, _and if nothing else keep it so when the problem did pop up of them already reading Standard came up, they could be at the same level. And as for Standard lessons...he'd just make both of them his "helpers" and _hope_ for the best.

Otherwise, it was going to be a _long_ year.

--

The first week of school was an excited blur for Angeal. There were a lot of kids, more than he was used to and more noise, but it was OK. He and Genesis had sat next to each other, and he liked Genesis--he liked Genesis an awful, awful lot, and was glad they could be friends. He thought Genesis was kind of amazing, even if he didn't know why, other than Genesis was so different from him. Genesis was smart and liked helping him to learn to read Mideelian, kinda like his mama had helped him with reading Standard, and the two of them got to help everyone in their Standard lessons, which was fun and made him feel special and he liked explaining things and helping, that it was only him and _Genesis_ who got to help like that. Angeal wasn't anything like Genesis; Genesis was a bundle of energy, and it stood out as much as his bright hair did.

And Genesis was pretty. He was awfully, awfully, pretty. Angeal didn't think boys were _supposed_ to be pretty but Genesis _was_, and it was _Genesis_ so it was OK. The big girls had cooed all over Genesis the first day, petting his hair and saying he was 'so cute!', and Genesis had just grinned at them and milked it for attention. It seemed like _everybody_ liked Genesis.

Except Aeolus.

Aeolus was one of the bigger boys and during lunch time he and his friends would come out and bother the first and second graders, usually the girls. Angeal didn't like Aeolus very much, but he and Gen spent most of their free time after they ate running around and playing, so they hadn't have to deal with Aeolus much, except for that one time, before they learned to avoid him, that Aeolus came up from behind to tried to push Angeal off. That had ended with Genesis biting Aeolus, and then the bell rang and they ran inside and into their classroom before Aeolus could catch them.

The kids in second grade said they were in for it, so they stayed off the swings and stuck to climbing and the other things and running if they saw Aeolus coming; with as agile as Genesis was and as quick as Angeal was (he'd heard one teacher watching them say Genesis must have been born equipped with Float and Angeal with Hermes' Boots), none of the other kids could keep up with them when they were tearing around the playground equipment, even the big kids, and Angeal liked that _just fine, _that it was just the two of them.

It was during lunch break the first week of the second month of school that their luck avoiding Aeolus ran out. They had spent most of the lunch period running, and were sitting down under a tree with some of the other kids from their class, Clearchus and the twins Korax and Tisias, when Aeolus came over.

Or rather, when he beelined straight over to Genesis and, with a smug smile, dropped a worm on Genesis' face.

Genesis was on his feet almost instantly, with Angeal up only a split second later, his hands balling into fists. "Why did you put a worm on me?" Genesis said angrily, forgetting that they were supposed to _run_ if they saw Aeolus. Genesis was mad and Angeal knew there was no way Genesis was going to run away when he was mad. Even back when Genesis had bitten Aeolus, the only reason he'd run was because the bell had rung and Angeal and grabbed his arm and took off.

Aeolus plucked the worm up from the ground where it had fallen and waved it in Genesis's face. Genesis took a disgusted step back and Aeolus started laughing. "You look like a _girl,_" Aeolus said tauntingly. "I wanna see if you act like one, too," he said, and waved the worm in Genesis's face again.

Genesis narrowed his eyes, and immediately grabbed the worm out of Aeolus' hand, popped it into his mouth, and started chewing exaggeratedly.

Angeal's jaw fell open--the worm had been covered in dirt and only the gods knew what else, and was all _wriggly_, and Genesis had just _put it in his mouth _and started chewing open-mouthed. And now looked proud of himself, his hands on his hips and chin tilted up. And _grinning_. With _worm guts and bits _stuck in his teeth. Like there was nothing wrong with that and he'd done a _good _thing.

Genesis looked over at Angeal and grinned _more._

Occasionally Angeal's mother and other grown-ups would do something Angeal hadn't really understood _why _until now. Now he understood, because he found himself doing it: Angeal buried his face in one hand and _groaned_.

"_Genesis_!"

"...What?" Genesis said, his mouth still full of dirt and half-chewed worm, and Angeal's jaw dropped. Genesis turned back to Aeolus and opened his mouth wide, making a "bleeeee~" face and showing Aeolus the chewed-up worm.

"Ewww, you're gross!" Aeolus said, but he was laughing, and then he walked off.

Genesis turned around, swallowed exaggeratedly, and _grinned_.

Angeal just stood there for a minute, then opened his mouth and _blinked._ Then started lecturing Genesis like his mama would sometimes, when he did something wrong, telling Genesis that was gross and not to do that again because it had been in the dirt and was dirty and that was _gross_.

Genesis' eyes glazed over in boredom about halfway through and he said, "Hey, we can go on the swings now!" and took off at a run for the swings

Angeal's shoulders slumped and he sighed, then groaned and buried his face in his hand again, shook his head and then gave up, and headed after Gen.

"Betcha I can go higher!" Genesis yelled.

"Betcha can't," Angeal said back, and then it was a contest, and they were off, both of them pumping their legs as fast and hard as they could, straining to touch the sky higher.

--

The school year passed quickly, and when the summer vacation signaling the end of the school year in rural Banora and Tanava, where even children had to be free to help with the summer apple harvest, began, Gillian barely even saw her son; Genesis would show up and off the two of them would go. Angeal would help her out, as much as he could, since she was busy as everyone else this time of year, but if Genesis showed up, she all but swatted him out the door. The two of them spent their first summer vacation from school outside in the fields and orchards doing whatever it was two six-almost-seven-year-olds could come up with, and more than once Angeal had come home with bugs, frogs, snakes, and other things in his pockets, and she always sat down with him and told him the scientific names and whatever she knew about them. Genesis was an avid listener if he was there, and she soon got used to Genesis coming by whenever the urge hit him, and considered herself lucky if he knocked before coming in the house, and there were times she felt a pang of regret, that she hadn't taken Genesis when she decided to leave like Hollander had wanted: she could only imagine how much more outgoing Angeal would have been from the start if he'd always had Genesis to run after.

Summer ended with the two of them tanned as brown as they would go, and when the school year started, Angeal shyly said she didn't have to walk with him the first day, since he and Genesis would go on their own.

Gillian smiled and said OK, and figured as long as they were together, they would both be fine.

--


	2. Temper Tantrums and Breaking Pencils

**Title:** In This Together: Temper Tantrums and Breaking Pencils

**Author:** joudama

**Fandom:** Final Fantasy 7 (Crisis Core)

**Rating:** G

**Word count: **8500ish

**Summary:** In the end, Genesis won and a project will always be a project.

**A/N:** The continuation of "A Series of Firsts," and I have no idea where these came from. Or why my brain likes writing Genesis as a small, bratty child. XD;; kiddie!Genesis!logic is fun.

I made up the names for Genesis' adoptive parents; if you've read "Deadly Sweet Mother," then you've already seen the names, Adrasteia and Iapetus (speaking of "Deadly Sweet Mother," this story fits _around_ that at the end. Sorry for those of you who prefer to pretend that, um, somewhat twisted fic doesn't exist-it's kind of jou!canon now). And if you wonder where the names are coming from, Greek Myth! "Iapetus" I chose because of a line from Horace-"audax Iapeti genus/ Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit": "The bold offspring of Iapetus/Brought fire to peoples by wicked deceit" (and the "bold offspring of Iapetus" would be Prometheus). And "Adrasteia" seems odd at first, because she was a nurturing Titan-she was the one who took Zeus when Cronos was going to kill him. ...But that's not why I chose the name. I chose the name because it means "inescapable," and it was also an epithet for _Nemesis. _So put the two Adrasteias together, and...yeah. Hee hee hee. I r nerd.

The teacher's names, alas, aren't so deep. XD;; I pretty much genked them from random places. I fully admit to a moment of "can't be arsed." ^^;;; I took the idea of a teacher's room from the Japanese schools I've worked at, where teachers all had their desks together in the teacher's room and worked from there. But kids moving from one classroom to another each year is purely the American in me.

It was the first day back to school, and Genesis was excited. His backpack was full of everything he needed for the new year, plus a new book he'd gotten to read during breaks the day before-a _real_ book, a big kid book written in Standard and not Mideelian. He was in the second grade now, so he wasn't a baby any more.

He sat on the rim of the fountain and swung his feet out while he waited. He had time, and he did this every day going to school-he always left home a little early, and waited here for Angeal. He hummed a little to himself as he swung his feet out, waiting, and he looked out the way he knew Angeal came.

He was about to start getting bored when he saw Angeal walking up the path, and he jumped off the fountain and started waving his hand excitedly and yelling, "Angeal! Angeal!" to get his attention. Angeal saw him, grinned, and ran over.

"Ready?" Genesis said, and Angeal nodded with a "Uh-huh!" and adjusted his backpack then stuck out his hand. Genesis reached over and shyly took the hand Angeal held out, still a little amazed that Angeal never pulled away from him. No one touched him much at home-even the other kids would kind of keep their distance even though they always were around him-but Angeal would always take his hand or grab his arm to get his attention, and even sometimes hug him. He liked that, and thought Angeal was lucky that his mother liked giving hugs.

Genesis hadn't known he liked hugs until he made friends with Angeal. But he was still always a little nervous that Angeal would jerk away or wipe his hand off like Mother did sometimes, or get that _look_, so he was always a little afraid sometimes to hug him or take his hand first.

Angeal didn't pull away; just grinned wider, nodded once, then tugged a little on Genesis's hand, and off they went to start the first day of second grade.

It was when they got to the second grade rooms that they realized Genesis's room was room 2-2 but Angeal's was 2-1.

Angeal had started to go into 2-1, but Genesis frowned and said, "That's the wrong room. It's 2-2," and tugged on Angeal towards 2-2.

"But Genesis, my paper says 2-1!" Angeal said, frowning himself and pulling his hand free. He took off his bag and took out the classroom assignment carefully. "See? It says I'm in 2-1."

"But mine says 2-2!" Genesis said, and pulled out his own paper. They compared them and saw the number was different.

By then, one of the second grade teachers had noticed and come over. "May I?" she asked with a polite smile, and took their room assignment sheets. "Angeal?" she said, and Angeal nodded. "You're in the room next to here. Genesis, you're in my class," she said, smiling at the two of them. "I'm Mrs. Konstantopoulos, and let's have a good year together, OK? Angeal, you should hurry to your room, since class will start soon. Your homeroom teacher, Miss Moulitsas, is very nice and you don't want to keep her waiting. She wants to meet you!"

"Oh," Angeal said and looked at his feet, just as Genesis burst out with, "_Why_ aren't we in the same room? We were _before_!"

"I dunno," Angeal said, frowning as he picked up his bag. "But I guess I gotta-"

"No," Genesis said, his lip poking out angrily.

"Huh?" Angeal said, blinking. "But-"

"_No_. We're in _the same room_," Genesis said, shaking his head sharply. He turned to Mrs. Konstantopoulos. "I wanna be in the same room. Put us in the same room."

"Genesis, you can see each other during recess," Mrs. Konstantopoulos said gently, kneeling down to his level to try to talk to him.

Genesis narrowed his eyes, stuck out his lip, took a deep breath, and _exploded_.

Halia Konstantopoulos shook her head, glaring out from the fresh ice pack on her black eye. The black eye today had been the final straw; she went to the principal and insisted something be done _now_ about this. She had done her best, but after two weeks, enough was _enough_ and she was officially throwing in the towel.

The principal called in both the Rhapsodoses and Gillian Hewley, which had brought them to where they were now, in the principal's office having a conference. "That boy...I've been teaching for fifteen years, and I have _never_ seen a child act like that. Not every day for _two weeks_. He has refused to accept that he and Angeal are not going to be in the same room. Every morning and then every afternoon after recess, he pitches a fit. And if he's not kicking and screaming, he's _glaring_ at me the whole day. He has refused to do any of his work and if I ask him a question he either ignores me or starts _yelling_. This happened today," she said, gesturing at her face, "when recess ended and I was trying to drag him into class because he had been trying to go into Angeal's class. He's done that several times, by the way. Either try to go into Angeal's class or drag Angeal into mine." She shook her head. "That boy is not stable," she muttered.

Iapetus and Adrasteia threw each other a look that made Halia suspect they either knew the boy was off or were about to try and have her fired, or quite possibly both.

"Genesis is _not_ unstable," Gillian Hewley said firmly. "Truthfully, he reminds me of someone I used to know," she said with a strange half smile Halia couldn't figure out. "He once told us the story of how he refused to give up this one stuffed toy of his and pitched an absolute fit as a child when his parents tried to make him not take it to school. So for months he dragged it with him to school every day." Her smile grew slightly rueful. "It just looks like Angeal is Genesis's stuffed toy."

The silence was almost painful and Halia wondered if the woman was aware of what what she had said just sounded like.

Gillian sighed. "Is there any _reason_ why they can't just be put in the same homeroom? It would be the easiest solution," she said blandly. "I certainly don't have a problem with it. To be honest, seeing Genesis getting so upset all the time is starting to bother Angeal."

"To say nothing of my black eye," Halia said, fighting the urge to ask what was wrong with the woman and her sense of perspective. _This is why I hate parents some days,_ she thought in irritation.

"Mayor Rhapsodos? Mrs. Rhapsodos?" the principal said, stressing Iapetus' position as he shot a look at Halia, who just glared and gestured at her black eye. _And the administration. Hate them some days, too. _

"I am a busy man," Iapetus said, sounding annoyed. "Just move the Hewley boy if that's what Genesis wants so badly. You should have just done that two weeks ago."

Halia stared at him with her mouth hanging open, and everything to make sense: Genesis was spoiled rotten. "Fine. Put them together, then," she said. "But if we're moving students, I want him _out_ of my class."

"Halia, we can't," the principal said tiredly. "Your homeroom is the smallest. We'll have to move Angeal into your room."

"Oh, perfect," she said, crossing her arms as a voice in her head started screaming-not only Genesis still in her class, but now Angeal, which meant dealing with his mother, who was clearly on her own planet. "He's going to be _insufferable_!"

"Hey!" Hewley said suddenly, frowning. The Rhapsodoses stayed silent, and Hewley shook her head. The Rhapsodoses shot each other a look, then a glare at Halia and the principal, but Halia did not care-their spoiled brat had given her a black eye after two straight weeks of day-long temper tantrums, so her caring about their "position" in the town was hovering somewhere around "nil."

Hewley sighed again, then squared her jaw. "When will you move Angeal?"

"We can move him tomorrow," he said. "I'll let Miss Moulitsas know she's losing a student."

_I hate my life_, Halia thought, but plastered a fake smile on her face. "I'm sure she'll be delighted," she said, and then glared at them all and adjusted her ice pack.

"Hewley," Mr. Rhapsodos said, quickly looking down the empty hallway to make sure no one was there. "Are you sure this is a good idea? All things considered..." he began, and Gillian cut him off short.

"Iapetus, what do you mean by that? I've watched them, and Genesis is a _normal little boy_," she said firmly. "And I'm not worried about how he's latched onto Angeal; it seems like no one else can keep up with them. They are _friends._" Her voice remained firm. "Yes, Genesis is a bit more...forceful about things, but he's not the unstable monster that woman was painting him as. And if I thought he was dangerous in some way, do you honestly think I would let _my son _near him?

"And if nothing else," she said, pragmatic to the end, "you can't begin to deny that Angeal keeps Genesis calm. I'm utterly shocked to hear of Genesis throwing tantrums like that, because he never has in any of the times I've seen the two of them together. They balance each other out."

She bit her tongue against the rest; that the two of them balancing each other out ran both ways. Angeal on his own had been shy and withdrawn, and far, far too serious and sensitive for a child his age. But when he was with Genesis he was _different_, more outgoing and more certain, even if that certainty only came from following after Genesis. So while Angeal may have kept Genesis from going too far _out_ of bounds, Genesis made Angeal go past his _own_ boundaries. They balanced, and she could see the change in her son, and the thought of him going back to the serious, quiet, and _withdrawn_ little boy he had been was out of the question. She worried suddenly that she had let too much slip: they didn't know anything about Angeal other than he was her son. She knew they had to suspect something about Genesis, but she had always played it down.

Iapetus shook his head. "All right, Hewley. I'm trusting your judgement on this, but I think it's a bad idea." He sighed. "We never should have taken him," Iapetus muttered under his breath, leaving Gillian frowning more and wishing suddenly that they hadn't taken the boy, either.

Hollander had tried to get her to take Genesis as well, saying she could monitor him best, but she'd balked at the idea-she was still pregnant and the idea of _one_ baby was terrifying enough for her; two was completely out of the question and no way she could, on the pittance ShinRa had offered her, support herself and _two_ children. She'd always thought it had been for the best, especially since the Rhapsodoses were so well-off and respected, but she suddenly had a sinking feeling that when she'd said no, she'd made a dreadful mistake.

They had just entered the entryway to the school building when Adrasteia turned on her.

"Just _what_ has ShinRa dumped on us?" she said, hissing the words low and under her breath.

"What?" Gillian said, trying to ignore the flare of panic Adrasteia's words had sent through her.

"You heard me. What has ShinRa dumped on us?" Adrasteia's face was cold as she looked around carefully. "That boy...that boy isn't normal. I've known that since he was a baby. _What is he_?"

"A _child_," Gillian said forcefully.

"You mean a failed experiment," Adrasteia said slowly, and Gillian blanched. "You might," Adrasteia said, the words almost sickeningly sweet, "want to tell Hollander to be more careful with his secrets." Her face darkened. "Now. I want to know exactly what it is that that boy is," she said, her words sharp and crisp. "And want to know what other little surprises, like today, that we're in for. And if you don't tell me, then ShinRa can have their failed little experiment _back_. Tell me the truth right now, or else I am _done_ with that child. I will ship him back to ShinRa or I send him to the first orphanage that will take him. We deserve to know what he is and what he have to be prepared for.

"We never should have allowed ShinRa hide their sick little secrets here," she muttered under her breath. "Let alone blindly taken one into our home."

Gillian's jaw tightened and she looked away before she drew a sharp breath. Both of them were glaring at her, and she realized, like it or not, that they were _right_. They hadn't been told _anything_, and the gods only knew what Hollander had let slip. She'd thought that not telling them would have been for the best, but...

Well. She'd made mistakes in regards to this project before-mistakes she could _never_ atone for, and she knew it-and this was just one more.

"It was under something called Project G," she finally said, looking away. "Look, not here," she said, shaking her head. They were right near the playground, and Angeal and Genesis were tearing around after each other-the two of them hadn't noticed them yet, but she knew full well it wouldn't be long before they _did_, and she also knew how good their ears were and how _both_ of them were a hair too observant-especially Genesis, who had a quick little mind like a mithral trap and a dogged, determined stubborn streak-this whole mess about homerooms as proof-to boot. "I'll tell you as much as I can of what you want to know-and yes, my hands _are_ tied about how much I can say," she said, narrowing her eyes at the look of anger that flared on Adrasteia's face, "but I won't do it _here_."

"So what am I getting into?" Halia said as soon as she saw Calliope Moulitsas come back into the teacher's room from the principal's office. She looked up when Calliope sat down at her desk next to Halia's, and Halia sighed. "Getting that Angeal boy on _top_ of the demon," she said, using the nickname she had given Genesis after the first three days of school.

Calliope hesitated, and Halia groaned.

"No, no!" Calliope said quickly. "He's not like your Genesis. It's just...it's just that he's _shy_, is all. He's shy, and he's quiet, and he's a little bit smaller than the other boys, not to mention he's foreign and he doesn't have a father around...well, some of the other kids have started picking on him. It's not that bad now, and I've tried to stop it, but I can see it getting worse. So it's probably for the best he's being moved, especially to a room where he already has a friend. Maybe this way he'll smile or something, instead of frowning all the time," she said, the last sentence half under her breath.

Halia made a face. "Fabulous." She groaned. "They do _not_ pay me enough for this."

"Angeal is a good little boy," Calliope said, smiling faintly. "He's just _serious, _like he's _sixty_, not six. So maybe he'll rub off on your demon."

"Or the two of them will destroy my classroom and send me into an early retirement," Halia said gloomily, and Calliope laughed.

A sing-songy voice cut in. "I told you that-"

"Don't even _start_, Aris," Halia said, shooting Aristotle Athanasiadis a venomous look. "Don't even say it."

"All right," Aris said with a smile dripping with Schadenfreude. "This is me _not_ saying that I said from the beginning that splitting those two up would be a _terrible_ idea."

"One day, I _am_ going to poison your coffee," Halia said, her non-blackened eye twitching.

Aris only grinned more. "Aww, Halia, you say the _sweetest_ things. Careful, or your husband will get jealous."

She grabbed a notebook off her desk and threw it at his head. Since she could only see from one eye because the other was swollen, her aim was very off, but she vowed that she _was_ going to get Malebolge extract somewhere, and we'd see who was laughing then.

"Oh, and some advice for you, having both of them," Aris said, and Halia thought he was enjoying this _far_ too much. "If you ever need to leave someone in charge of the room, let Angeal do it, because that way you get both of them doing it. Same thing with Genesis in charge, actually, but if Angeal is in charge, Genesis will actually listen to him. Sort of. Well. Sometimes. Mostly. Oh, and both of them are fluent already in Standard, especially Angeal since his mother is from Midgar. Just let the two of them do their own thing during Standard classes. Angeal likes to help and is actually pretty good at it, but I usually just let Genesis read a book or something because, well, if the kid he tried to help isn't getting it right away, he'll start to loose his patience, and, heh..." Aris said with a wicked little grin and a fake-innocent shrug.

"I hate my life," Halia moaned, and thudded her head against a desk again, and Aris went back to work, whistling cheerfully.

_One day_, she swore. _Malebolge extract, right in his coffee_, and she banged her head against the desk again.

When she finished talking, the first words out of Adrasteia Rhapsodos' mouth were, "I want that _thing_ out of my home."

Gillian felt like she had been slapped. "What?"

"I want that _thing_ ShinRa passed off as a child out of my home."

"He's not a _thing_ being passed off as a child," Gillian said sharply. "He _is_ a child. He's human, only exposed to-."

"He's not human, he's a _monster-_a _Chímaira_," Adrasteia spat out, and Gillian remembered suddenly some of the ridiculous myths from the area, ones Adrasteia seemed to fully embrace. Chímaira was a man-made imitation of Gryps, a mythic animal created by the gods out here, that had gone mad and tried to destroy the world simply because it was an "abomination." She wanted to bang her head against a wall or something at the ridiculousness of it.

"_No_. He's a just a _boy_."

"A boy that may 'deteriorate' and can somehow inject those 'cells' he was exposed to into others," Adrasteia ended in disgust. "What does that even mean, 'deteriorate'? And how will he even inject his cells into others? Will he even be able to control it or know what he's doing? What it-get it out of my house or I get it out _myself_," Adrasteia said, her voice a low hiss.

A jolt of panic went through Gillian as suddenly as anger did. "No," Gillian said, her words careful. "No, I will not, and no, _you_ will not," she began, when Iapetus spoke. He had been quiet the whole time and his face going colder and blanker the more Gillian had talked, the opposite of Adrasteia's visibly growing disgust.

"Hewley," Iapetus said slowly. "Genesis was your project, wasn't he?"

She met his eyes. "Yes," she said, somewhat warily. Iapetus was no fool, and it was obvious that the wheels in his head had been turning.

"That means," he said, his words still thoughtfully slow, "that he is ultimately _your_ responsibility."

"What are you getting at?" she said, frowning in confusion. "Yes, he's my responsibility on some level still, which is why I live here. ShinRa made it a condition for me being released from my contract."

_And for keeping my son_, she thought to herself, but knew better than to say those words. She still had kept a lot from them-namely, her part in everything biologically related, from egg donations to volunteering herself to gestate the Jenova cells initially injected into Genesis, down all the way to Angeal himself. That much, they didn't need to know. They had only asked about _Genesis_, and that was all they needed.

And even that, it seemed, had been too much.

"If he is your responsibility, then he should be yours fully. ShinRa promised us a child, not an experiment. Take your experiment back...and in return, well. We still want a child," he said, and Gillian blinked.

"A fair trade, isn't it? Take Genesis and leave. Go wherever you want; we'll give you the money to do so. ShinRa won't mind since you're still fulfilling your contractual obligations. Take him and leave...but you can leave us a child. You can leave Angeal with us. One for the other.

"You and ShinRa owe us."

She couldn't believe her ears, and something in her snapped in rage. "Are you out of your _mind_? My _son_," she said, narrowing her eyes dangerously, "is not for trade or sale. And neither is _yours,_" she said, the last word sharp.

"ShinRa told you to take him and they're making sure you're both _very_ well taken care of for your efforts," she said, her jaw clinching. "And if _anything_ happens to that _child_," she said, staring at both of them, tight-faced in her rage, "or if there are _any_ signs that he's not being cared for to the _best_ of your abilities...well. It would be a shame if anything happened to your orchards. Or your position, Iapetus. Or Banora itself," she said, and her smile was tight-lipped with no teeth. Gillian had never once in her life made an idle threat, and some part of her almost wanted them to try and call her on this.

If anything happened to that boy-anything at all-she _would_ see the town razed to the ground. ShinRa may have been punishing her for quitting, but she still had connections and they still had a vested interest in their still-running side experiments. And, she thought, this _had_ to just be shock talking. They had raised Genesis since he was only a few months old-she hadn't even had Angeal yet when the Rhapsodoses took him. It just wasn't possible from them to not on some level care for him, and especially a child like Genesis, who was almost preternaturally charming when he chose to be. _Once they calm down..._

And if they didn't and persisted in this madness, she'd raze the town _herself_ if they tried to take Angeal from her.

The thought to just take Genesis and run-all three of them, just _run_-hit her, and then a panicked voice in her head started yelling it was impossible. She knew, she _knew_, that there was no way she could raise two children-she had left ShinRa and the way she had done so ensured she would never be able to find work anywhere on the planet as a scientist again. ShinRa had blacklisted her so thoroughly nowhere would touch her, and the pittance they offered her for her reports on Genesis and Angeal now on barely kept them fed and a roof over their heads. It was all she could do to scrape by with only two mouths to feed; she couldn't imagine trying to add a third.

And, if she took him and reported it was because the Rhapsodoses were failing with the boy...she knew what that meant, too. She knew exactly what would happen-ShinRa would find them and Genesis would find himself in a laboratory.

She didn't doubt for one moment that they'd take Angeal as well, too, or have any compunctions about a bullet in her brain if she refused-or even horrifyingly worse, they could decide to just "terminate" the entire project-her, Genesis, and Angeal. And if she just fled, and didn't tell ShinRa...

What kept her safe and her son free was the pressing-from her and eventually Hollander-that the boys could be raised out of a ShinRa lab, and the promise that they would be sent in if they proved to be better than originally expected or if they were 'underperforming.' If she upset that balance in any way...

It was impossible, completely impossible, and more than that, she was not going to let them just walk away from what they owed that child or run the slightest risk that their temper tantrum could end up hurting her son. Whether they liked it or not, _they were_ Genesis' family-her responsibility was to monitor Genesis' progress; _their's_ was to raise him. And by all the gods they may have believed in, they _would_ honor their word. They were not backing out of their responsibilities just because of some stupid mythology.

Iapetus sucked in a sharp breath and narrowed his eyes at her angrily, but she refused to back down. He let out a disgusted snort. "Adrasteia," he said coldly, jerking his head. "Let's go."

They stood up and marched out of the empty classroom that had been speaking in, stiff-shouldered and full of bristling pride, and when the door closed, she let out a sigh of relief, and then realized that when she'd said no to Hollander about taking Genesis years ago, she had made a terrible, _terrible_ mistake.

"Angeal, honey," Gillian said the next morning, and Angeal looked up from his breakfast, his cheeks puffed out slightly from the food.

"Hmm?" he said, wide-eyed and spoon sticking out of his mouth, and she couldn't help but laugh.

He gave her a slightly confused look, and she had to stifle another laugh at it.

"You know how you and Genesis had different homerooms?" she said, and Angeal nodded.

"Yeah. He's still mad. I don't know why they won't just let us be in the same room," Angeal said from around the spoon in his mouth and frowning slightly.

"Well, about that. I went to the school yesterday. They called me and Genesis' parents in, remember?"

Angeal nodded.

"Well, we decided that you two should be in the same homeroom from now on. You're moving to Genesis' homeroom starting today."

Angeal's whole face lit up. "Really, momma?" he said, and his eyes were all but glowing from happiness.

She nodded, and Angeal jumped out of his seat, ran over to her, and threw his arms around her. He started bouncing excitedly and babbling about wait until Gen found out and how he couldn't wait to tell him and to go to school that day, and she suddenly wished they _had_ just done this two weeks ago. The last week or so, Angeal had been dragging more and more the closer it came for him to leave for school, and the less and less happy he had looked about it.

"Finish your breakfast," she finally said, and he went wide-eyed.

"Oh, yeah," he said sheepishly, and sat back down, and she felt her lips twitching into a smile again.

Angeal could barely contain his excitement. He was all but running to the square, where he and Gen met every day before they went to school. As soon as he saw Genesis sitting at the well, he started running seriously. "Genesis! Genesis!"

He ran until he got to Gen, panting for breath. "Guess what, guess what!" Angeal said excitedly when he caught his breath. Usually Genesis would have already been up and heading towards him, but today Genesis had been sitting at the fountain, staring out into space. Angeal didn't pay it too much attention, too excited by his big news.

"What?" Genesis said, blinking.

"Momma said they're gonna put us in the same homeroom today!" he said excitedly, and Genesis' face lit up.

"Really?" he said, and Angeal nodded.

"Momma said I was gonna get to move into your homeroom today!"

Genesis suddenly hugged Angeal, and Angeal grinned and hugged him back. Genesis didn't really hug him first very often, and sometimes Angeal wished he would. He liked hugs.

Genesis suddenly pulled back. "We gotta go, or we'll be late!" he said, and Angeal nodded.

"'Kay," he said, then stuck out his hand. Genesis grabbed it, and the two of them took off running.

Halia had one last cup of coffee, sincerely wishing it was laced with apple ale, before she took a deep breath. "I can do this, I can do this, they are just children," she muttered, and did her able best to ignore Aris snickering off to the side.

"Have fun," he said in a sing-songy voice, followed quickly by, "Ow, Calliope! That's hot!"

She looked up and saw Calliope give her a wink, and it was good to know at least someone had her back.

"Don't worry," Calliope said. "Angeal's a good boy, and you never hear Genesis getting into trouble when the two of them are playing during recess. Don't worry. Maybe this is for the best," she said brightly.

"Best. Sure," Halia said, and took one last swig from her coffee mug just as the bell rang. "That bell is the sound of my doom," she said glumly, and ignored all the snickers from the other teachers, traitors every one. She stood up with a sigh and headed towards her class.

She had only barely stepped foot in the room when Genesis Rhapsodos pounced.

"Is it true, is it true?" he said, tugging at her shirt. "Is Angeal really gonna move into this room?"

She nodded. "Yes. He'll be coming after he says his good-byes to his room."

A big, wide grin spread out over his face, and she blinked, startled at the sudden realization that Genesis was an almost stunningly beautiful child when he smiled.

"Where's he gonna sit? Can he sit by me?" Genesis said excitedly, and she nodded, because at this point, there was no reason to put her foot down about it-she'd just sit them both in the back or something.

He suddenly threw his arms around her in a hug, and that alone threw her into a mild state of shock the entire day, one that only grew after Angeal came over with his backpack and books, and the two of them got him settled in.

Once Angeal was in the class, it was if Genesis Rhapsodos was a _completely different child_. He was attentive, he was cheerful, and he was completely agreeable to everything. He went from a raging monster to a sweet, helpful _angel_.

_Aris was right_, she thought. ..._Dammit_.

It took a few days, but Angeal was finally getting used to his new homeroom. Genesis' class was already at different places from his, but Genesis was happy enough to help him catch up where he was a little behind, and to keep him from getting bored when he was ahead.

It was one of the classes-math-where Angeal was already a lesson ahead that Angeal noticed it. He hadn't been paying much attention to the exercises, since he'd done them already, and had been daydreaming slightly. He had looked over at Genesis to see where Genesis was, and his eyes suddenly went wide and his mouth fell open slightly.

"Genesis," he said, poking Genesis to get his attention.

"What?" Genesis said, frowning slightly. Genesis wasn't good at math, and he'd been frowning at his exercises.

"Your neck," Angeal said, and put down his pencil to point to a small bruise, one that was almost completely covered by Genesis's hair; it only caught Angeal's eye when Genesis had tilted his head and his hair moved. It was half-healed, at the point where it was mottled purple and yellow. "What happened!"

Genesis frowned more. "What?" he said.

"Your _neck_," Angeal said again, and this time reached over and touched the bruise lightly with a fingertip. "You hurt it."

Genesis raised his hand up and touched the same space, and winced slightly, then his frown grew into an angry pout. "Nothing," he said, tucking his chin down and narrowing his eyes.

"But-" Angeal started, and Genesis's eyes flared, and he reached over Angeal's desk, grabbed the pencil Angeal had just put down, and snapped it in half.

Genesis didn't quite know why he did it, other than he wanted Angeal to _shut up_.

"You broke my pencil!" Angeal said suddenly with a horrified look of dismay, and before Genesis could do or say anything, Angeal's lower lip had started trembling. "Why did you break my pencil?"

"It's just a pencil!" Genesis said, feeling weird and not liking it, like he'd done something wrong, even though it was Angeal's fault. If Angeal hadn't been bugging him... He scowled and looked away from the tears welling up in Angeal's eyes and the betrayed look Angeal was giving him. "Just use another one."

"I don't have another one," Angeal said, sniffling and his breath beginning to hitch. His face crumpled, then he bit his lip and picked up his broken pencil and started trying to do his work with it, sniffling.

Genesis couldn't look at him, just stared at the window with his arm crossed and lip poking out, and sniffled.

"Genesis? Angeal? What's wrong?" Mrs. Konstantopoulos said suddenly. Genesis scowled and waited for Angeal to get him into trouble.

"Nothing," Angeal said, sniffling a little but trying to stop, tears still rolling down his cheeks. "My pencil broke."

One of the boys, Clearcus, burst into laughter. "Cry baby, cry baby!" he said tauntingly, and Angeal's let out a small sob and dropped his head, wiping his eyes with his fists as lost his battle trying to hold back his tears and his shoulders started shaking. Genesis shot Clearcus an angry look, but Clearcus didn't seem to notice. "Cry baby! Lookit the crybaby!"

"Clearcus!" Mrs. Konstantopoulos said sternly, and he closed his mouth, but still kept a mean-spirited smile on his face.

Genesis scowled again and turned a long, narrowed-eyed glare that was pure venom at Clearcus, and smiled when the boy startled.

He was gonna _get_ Clearcus for making Angeal cry.

He waited until the end of the day, when it was cleaning time. He'd planned this-he had been helping give the homework sheets out, and when Telemachus was taking his, Genesis held on a little bit too tightly, and the sheet tore. That meant Mrs. Konstantopoulos had to go make another copy during cleaning time, which meant _no teacher._

As soon as she was gone, he stomped over to Clearcus' desk, pulled out Clearcus' pencil case, and took out a pencil, then stuck Genesis tongue out at him and stomped back towards his desk.

"Hey! You took my pencil! Gimme my pencil, Genesis!" Clearcus yelled.

"No," Genesis snapped. Genesis was setting things even-Angeal's pencil had gotten broken, so he needed a new one. Since Clearcus had made Angeal cry because of it, Angeal was getting his pencil.

"Give it back, Genesis!" Angeal said angrily, throwing down his cleaning rag. "That's not _yours_! It's his!"

"But-!" Genesis said, his lip poking out, but Angeal wouldn't back down.

"No!" Angeal said, angrily crossing his arms, and Genesis narrowed his eyes.

Halia had known it was coming, and had dreaded it. While Genesis Rhapsodos had been like a completely different child-one who was bright, paid attention, and oddly charismatic for someone so young-she remembered all too well why she had referred to him as "the demon child" when talking about him the first two weeks.

She knew all too well what it looked like when Genesis was about to throw the mother of all tantrums, and it looked like the demon child was about to return.

Angeal Hewley had been sent by the gods for all the change just having him around had done, even if she couldn't even begin to imagine what it was about Angeal that Genesis had latched on to, other than him being Genesis's total opposite in terms of pretty much everything, from personality to family situation, and the way none of the other kids could keep up with them in their sports class outside-if the two of them were together on a team, that team would _win, _and when they were separate it quickly turned into a competition just between them, shock as it was to see tiny little Angeal Hewley keeping up whatever the pace Genesis set-but it looked like the gods were revoking their gift, and after less than a week-she had left the room to go to the teacher's room to make a quick copy of a worksheet after Telemachus accidentally tore his while the kids cleaned the classroom at the end of the day, and had come back to find _this_. The two of them were about to have a face off of some sort, and with as meek a little boy as Angeal seemed to be and as much as he followed Genesis around, she knew this was going to end _badly_.

The two of them were nose to nose, and Genesis had his _lip sticking out_, in the _bad_ way, the "thirty seconds away from screaming and kicking" way. And Angeal was _glaring_ at Genesis, his arms crossed and head tilted in a way that was far more stubborn than she would have imagined the boy capable of, and she could only imagine how well Genesis would take _Angeal_ of all people defying him.

This was going to get _ugly_.

She had just geared herself to go over when Genesis tilted his head more with pure pride, fully matched by the stubborn pursed-lip look Angeal gave him, and she figured it was too late and things were about to fall completely apart when all of a sudden, Genesis' angry pout turned _sulky._ He crossed his arms and looked away angrily, shoulders hunched in and not looking at Angeal. He shoved whatever he had been holding-it looked like a pencil-at Clearcus, and then scowled.

Angeal gave Clearcus a look and shrugged, and then picked up both his bag and Genesis' in one hand, grabbed Genesis' arm by the other, and pulled him outside, all the while, most mind-boggling of it all, _chewing Genesis out_-as they went past her, she couldn't miss Angeal's, "You can't _do_ that, it's not _nice_, Gen! That was _his_! You'll get in _trouble_!"

Genesis was still scowling and was being all but dragged away, but he was very obviously _letting himself_ be dragged out-Halia knew far too well how well trying to make _Genesis Rhapsodos_ go somewhere or do something he didn't want to went and had gotten the black eye from a flailing fist to prove it-and she just stood there with her mouth hanging open.

Genesis Rhapsodos, the demon child, had _just given in to someone_.

She wandered down to the teacher's room in something of a haze, wondering if maybe she hadn't gotten something about Genesis and Angeal _completely_ backwards somehow.

They were almost to the gate when Genesis dug his heels in and yanked his arm free.

"Gen?" Angeal said, stopping in surprise and still frowning.

"I gotta go to the bathroom!" Genesis said, still pouting slightly and not completely looking at Angeal. "And gimme my bag. I left my book in my desk. You wait here."

"'Kay," Angeal said with a sigh, giving Genesis his bag. "You're not gonna take his stuff again, right?" he said pointedly with a frown.

Genesis heaved an exaggerated and aggrieved sigh. "_No_, I'm _not_ gonna _take_ his stuff, Angeal," he said sounding annoyed.

"OK," Angeal said and smiled, then crouched down and picked up a stick to start drawing animals in the dirt while Genesis ran back.

"Hey, Clearcus," Genesis said. Clearcus looked up from his backpack. Everyone else had left, but Clearcus was still there, putting his pencil back and his stuff away.

"What do you want, stupid?" Clearcus said angrily, and Genesis narrowed his eyes angrily. He went over to Clearcus' desk so fast Clearcus' eyes went wide, and he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up. "Let go of me, stupid!" Clearcus yelled, then winced when Genesis tightened his arm. "Ow! Let me go! Ow!" he said, trying to get free, and Genesis just tightened his grip more and more, then finally shook Clearcus. Hard.

"The more you try to get loose the more it'll hurt," he said. Something cold and dangerous gleamed in Genesis' eyes, and Clearcus' lower lip began to tremble and he went still.

"Get your pencil box," Genesis said, and squeezed Clearcus' arm. Clearcus winced and tears welled up in his eyes, put pulled the case out with his free hand.

Genesis held out a hand. "Gimme a pencil."

Clearcus pulled one out and gave it to Genesis, and Genesis smiled, let go of Clearcus' arm, and slipped the pencil over his shoulder and into his backpack.

"Hey, that's my-!" Clearcus began angrily with a sniffle, and then his words dried up when Genesis turned on him, his eyes narrowed into fine slits.

"No, it's _mine_," Genesis said, his voice low and eyes burning, and Clearcus stumbled back, rubbing his arm where Genesis had grabbed it before. "Because you just _gave it_ to me. Right?"

Clearcus swallowed then nodded, and Genesis smiled before he dumped everything in Clearcus' desk onto the floor. "Clean that up. It's your stuff, so it's your mess," he said with a sharp, dangerous little smile on his face, and then stepped on everything as he walked over to the door. At the door, he stopped and gave Clearcus that sharp little smile again, and Clearcus flinched, then bit his lip against another sniffle and started picking up his things. Genesis' smile widened, just slightly, and he tilted his chin up and his smile was replaced with a disgusted look before he walked out without a look back.

When he got to the entrance to the school, he saw Angeal and took off at a run for him. "Angeal! Let's go!" he said, and grabbed Angeal's arm to tug him up. "Race you!" he said, and Angeal grinned, then dropped his stick and jumped to his feet at Genesis' tugging, and they took off for the orchards, running for all they were worth.

The phone rang, and Gillian picked it up quickly, wondering who could possibly be calling her.

"Dr. Hewley, I presume?"

She let out a faint sigh. "Hello, Hollander. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"What, a man can't simply call an old colleague and see how she's doing?"

"You _never_ 'simply call'," she said, raising an eyebrow. "What is it you want?"

"I was calling to see how the projects are doing."

"Your _son_," she said pointedly, "is in school right now. As is Genesis."

"How are they getting along?"

"Thick as thieves," she said, smiling faintly. She knew it wasn't the answer he wanted, but she refused, _refused_, to act as if they were anything more than children. "They get on so well Genesis pitched a fit when they weren't in the same homeroom. We finally had to change Angeal's room, and now there don't seem to be any problems."

"It's unsurprising they would gravitate to each other, all things considered. They're not regular children, after all."

That stung her for some reason and she tightened her jaw. "But they _are_ regular children."

He ignored her. "I just sent you details on some physical tests, endurance and the like, that I'd like you to do on them. And if you can, send me a new blood sample from both of them. I'd also like to arrange for IQ tests, since we need to compare their progress to Project S."

"I'd rather not."

"It doesn't matter."

"I know."

There was a long silence, and when Hollander spoke again, his voice was softer. "Gillian, you know I still-"

"Save it," she said, shaking her head even though he couldn't see her. "I don't feel like listening it, no matter what it is."

"_Gillian_. Look, I-" he began, then sighed. "You should come back. I miss...I miss working with you," he said quietly. "We did good work together."

"Do you know why I left?" she said, her voice quiet yet angry. "Do you know when I decided to?"

"You had qualms about the project and how Hojo was-"

"It was the day I felt my _son_ move inside me," she said, cutting him off. "_That_ was the day I realized he wasn't an experiment, but my _child_. He was a living thing, a part of me, and I could never think of him as just a project again. That is why I gave him a real name instead of the project name, because he wasn't a _project_, he's wasn't a _lab sample_, he wasn't an _experiment_, he was my _son_. I _quit_ because I realized what I had become and what ShinRa...what _we_ were doing-that we were playing with living, breathing things, with _children_. With _my child_. I _quit _because I got my _humanity_ back. And I will never go back or let you have my son-_your_ son. He will _never _be Subproject Apocrypha _again_."

Hollander's voice was cold. "Apocrypha or Angeal, it doesn't matter. He will _always_ be Subproject _A_, no matter how much you pretend otherwise. And don't pretend to think for a split second that ShinRa wouldn't have ordered 'your son' ripped out of you and taken away had you not agreed to a few 'conditions' to quitting. You don't 'quit' something like this, Gillian, and you know it, and all your talk about 'my son' and 'your son' ring very hollow coming from _you_, considering _Genesis_," Hollander said with what sounded like disgust, and Gillian felt like she had been slapped.

_But it's different_, a voice inside of her yelled. _It's different_. _Genesis was an experiment from the first and we all did what we needed to to be able to run it without interference. But Angeal...Angeal wasn't wasn't like that. He was mine and part of me before I gave him to ShinRa, I just didn't know it until it was too late._ _Angeal's _different.

"Besides," Hollander finally said after a long silence, a hint of a smile in his voice. "Don't you want to know if they're better than Hojo's Project S? It was always as much you against Hojo as it was me."

"...I don't care," she finally said, and it twisted like a lie in her mouth, like the lie it _was_-some part of her had stirred, the part that had worked so hard to use the Jenova DNA, that had been willing to let herself be a guinea pig and had almost ecstatically volunteered her son when she found out she was pregnant, seeing it as merely fortuitous timing to let them test out their newest hypothesis. And part of her felt sick at that, that there was still some part of her that thought of her son as an experiment, as "Subproject A." "Angeal...Angeal is my joy. I love him more than I thought it as possible to love anything, and I feel it every time I look at him. He is my greatest joy." Her hand tightening on the phone, and when she next spoke, her words were a low, pained whisper.

"But I can _never_ forget how he came to be 'subproject A.' My greatest joy," she said thickly, "is _also_ my greatest sin. And I remember that every time I look at him as well," she said, closing her eyes, and then hung up the phone. Then she sat down heavily in a chair and put her face in her hand, and tried not to think about anything at all.

And when Angeal came home and gave her a tentative, "Mama...?" and looked up at her with wide, worried blue eyes, she scooped him into her lap and held onto him.

He was a good boy, always had been, and didn't squirm or try to get down, just sat with his head on her chest while she held on to him. After a while, she sighed softly. "Angeal, can you do something for me?" she asked.

"What, Mama?" he asked, not raising his head from her chest.

"Can-can you go bring me my laptop? But be careful and don't drop it."

He nodded. "Okay. I'll be careful!" he said, and slid off her lap, heading towards her room. He brought the laptop to her a few minutes later, carefully holding it in both hands, looking around to make sure there was nothing he would trip over.

"I was careful, Mama!" he said proudly, holding it out to her with both hands.

"Yes, you were," she said, taking it from him, then patting him on the head. "Thank you." She put it on the table and turned it on, and almost as soon as she had, Angeal had scrambled somehow into her lap like he had been when she had sent him off to get the computer, sideways with his head on her chest. He was getting bigger and heavier, and wouldn't be able to sit on her lap like this for much longer.

It was a jarring realization of sorts.

She logged into the ShinRa network. She had left, yes, but the work she had done, the things she had been a part of-Hollander was right; there was no _quitting,_ and she knew it. Not if she didn't want there to one day be a knock on the door and men in black suits on the other side when she answered.

She pulled up the files, on Project G and Subproject A. And stared at them, without opening any of them, Angeal heavy on her lap and his head warm against her chest as he sat half-dozing.

The number of people with access to these files was limited, and these were the only records. It would be so easy to delete all of them, right now, and for there to be no more trace of either 'project'. A few keystrokes, and it would all be gone. All of the records, all of the work, _all of it_, and her hands hesitated over the keys, and she closed her eyes for the briefest of moments.

A few keystrokes later, and all of the files Hollander had sent on the tests he wanted her to run had been downloaded onto her computer, and she had logged out. She felt sick at herself-sick at what she was doing, and worse, sick at the flutter of excitement that had run through her when she saw the files.

Her greatest joy was her greatest sin...and he would _always_ be Subproject A.


	3. Make It Up

**Title:** Make It Up

**Author:** joudama

**Fandom:** Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

**Rating:** worksafe

**Warnings:** none

**Word count:** 1,696

**Summary:** One day, he'd make it up to him.

**A/N:** Angeal and Genesis are about thirteen, fourteen here and this is prior to the Wutai war breaking out by about a year or two. Also, I haven't been a teenager in a long time, and HALLELUJIA FOR THAT. Written for areyougame on insanejournal.

**Prompt:** Angeal/Genesis: Teenage talk – "My parents suck."

--

"My parents _suck_," Genesis said instead of a hello when Angeal answered the angry knocking at the front door. Genesis had that _look_, eyes narrowed and his bottom lip sticking out in an angry pout that he would deny if anyone ever pointed it out, and then give the person who said it a punch in the gut. Well, no, it was Gen, he was more likely to kick in their kneecaps then shove them into the mud. But he'd do it with style.

"I'm staying here tonight," he said, and pushed his way past Angeal. Angeal was already bigger than Genesis and showing signs of just getting bigger, but somehow Genesis, slight as he was, never had any problems pushing Angeal out of his way when he felt like getting somewhere, and usually with a glare at Angeal for having been in his way in the first place. Angeal just blinked and watched as Genesis stomped into the small house, slightly dumbfounded but mostly used to it.

Genesis all but flung himself into a chair at the small table in the middle of the room, steam all but pouring out of him as the bomb that was his temper twitched and flared.

"Have you eaten?" Angeal's mother said, putting her fork down. They had been in the middle of dinner, but she didn't seem upset at the interruption.

He sometimes wondered why his mother never seemed to object to Genesis just stomping in as he did. But then, there was also the feeling that it was natural; Genesis just had that kind of personality, where he fully expected reality to bend over backwards to suit him, and if it didn't they were going to have words.

His mother never got mad; instead, she would just get this slightly sad and pitying look on her face, before covering it with a smile and offer of a slice of apple pie. His mother was always almost oddly gentle towards Gen, as if he needed some kind of special handling, and Angeal kind of thought maybe that had set the tone for how he himself dealt with Gen.

Gen's nostrils flared. "No. I ate maybe half before I couldn't take _them_ anymore."

"You're still a growing boy, you should eat," she said, standing up to get a plate. "Angeal, sit down and finish eating," she finished, and Angeal nodded, because he really was hungry. There wasn't much food, and there'd be even less now, but there was always _enough_, so it was fine.

Dinner was a quiet affair; it normally was for Angeal and his mother anyway, and with Genesis in a foul mood, instead of the conversation he usually brought with him, he was poking at his food and glaring at it for a long time before Angeal kicked him under the table and told him to either eat it or hand it over. Genesis kicked back, and then started eating, and by the time he was done, he wasn't in as bad of a mood.

"You boys should do your homework," Angeal's mother said. "Help me clear up, then get to that."

"Yes ma'am," Angeal said, then kicked Gen under the table again.

"Ow! And OK!" Genesis said with a glare at Angeal. Angeal's mother bit back a laugh, then shook her head. But they stood up and started clearing everything away, then headed to Angeal's room to do their homework.

"...You didn't bring your books, did you?" Angeal said suddenly.

Genesis shook his head. "Nope. I didn't bring anything. Lend me yours?"

"OK," Angeal agreed, but part of him really didn't like this--Genesis hadn't come over with _anything_, and if there was one thing Genesis took with everywhere, it was a book of some kind. For him to have rushed out of his house without even grabbing something to read...

He pushed it out of his head and instead dug out his school books. Gen reached for the lit book, and Angeal was glad to let him take it. They settled into a comfortable silence, interrupted only an hour or so later when his mother brought them up some juice and fruit, which were all promptly eaten.

They were almost done with their homework, Gen having finished the lit assignment and Angeal the science so they switched books, when Angeal made the mistake of asking what had happened.

Genesis' mood instantly went sour, and he exploded almost instantly. "Everything I do is wrong!" he yelled. "They wouldn't care if I left and never came back." He narrowed his eyes suddenly. "Maybe one day I will. Everyone'd be happier that way."

This didn't sound like it was going in a good direction. Gen usually blew up, yeah, and it didn't last long, but there was something about the way he said that that made Angeal nervous.

"That's not true, Gen, and you know it. They're you're parents, even if they kinda suck sometimes. They love you."

Genesis gave him a cold look. "But I'm not _theirs_," he said. "I _know_ that, even if everyone tells me I'm wrong. Even the old gossip grannies. I have eyes!" he yelled. "I don't look a thing like _any _of them. I even looked through my parents' pictures of their families, and no one. I don't look like anyone. And even if I was blind, I could see." He scowled. "I bet they bought me off someone since they couldn't have children themselves. Bet they wish they could get a refund," he said, huddling in on himself and mood darkening.

Angeal balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Genesis' head. His homework had been on that, but it was literature, and he sucked at that, so it was probably all wrong anyway. He'd make Genesis help him redo it later.

Genesis gave him a wounded look, and Angeal rolled his eyes. "You're smarter than everybody in class, even if you're dumb about some things. Like thinking your parents hate you."

"I don't just _think _it," he said faintly, staring out the window. Angeal looked away, not knowing what to say. He knew the Rhapsodoses, after all, and...

Well, they weren't _bad_. It's just that they were cold. Or rather, they were really distant. He didn't quite know how to explain it, but there was just something kind of _off_, sometimes, about the way they interacted with Gen. Sometimes it was like he was being observed rather than parented, like they were waiting for...something, Angeal didn't know what, but that just didn't make any sense. And other times, yeah. Gen was right, it was like they were tolerating him more than anything else, but he didn't think saying so would be a good idea. Not that he'd know what to say anyway.

But still, they were his parents, they had to love him. That's what parents _did_.

"Help me with my lit work?" Angeal finally said. "Since I had to throw it at your head and all, I have to redo it now. You know me."

Genesis let out a surprised snicker of laughter. "What to you mean, I made you throw it at my head? You did that yourself, jerk!" he said, starting to smile. "Besides, as bad as your lit grades are, maybe you had the right idea," he ended with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want my science homework to copy, you better help me with my lit," Angeal said, sticking his tongue out at Gen.

"I help you with lit and you let me copy your science? Deal," Genesis said, looking proud of himself, as if he'd gotten the better end of the deal, and held out his hand for Angeal's science homework.

They finished their homework and started watching some stupid program on the vid screen, and Angeal wondered what it was that could have happened this time to have left Genesis fuming all these hours later. But when Gen didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't, and he didn't feel like brining it back up--Genesis was staring at the screen but not really watching it, his thoughts obviously a thousand kilometers away. Angeal had an idea that things were pretty bad at the Rhapsodos house; even when they were little Genesis would drag his feet at returning home from playing, and there were times lately when Genesis would show up at Angeal's house in the mornings, hair undone and wearing the same clothes as the night before, as if he hadn't gone home but had slept out in the orchards. He'd usually toss an apple at Angeal, which had solidified that feeling in the boy's head. But now it had started getting colder, too cold to sleep outside, and it looked like he'd be coming over to Angeal's instead.

That was fine; Angeal liked the thought of Genesis sleeping under a roof a lot more than that of him sleeping out in the cold.

The bed was getting to be to small for the two of them, but Angeal couldn't fit into his old sleeping bag anymore, and the gods only knew what would happen if he told Gen to take it. But ah, well, they were friends, and somehow, when they finally went to bed, they fit.

Angeal was almost asleep when he heard Genesis whisper.

"One day," Genesis said, his voice small, "I'm getting out of here. I'm going to be a hero, somehow. I will," he said. His voice was thick. "I'll show them that I'm not..." His voice cut off before he could finish the sentence. "I _will_."

He knew he should say something, that there had to be words to say to make things OK, but he didn't know what they could be, and it felt like a failure. He'd make it up to Gen, one day. And instead of trying words that would only fail somehow, he reached over to Gen, in the bed they were getting too big to share any more, and ruffled Gen's hair and said a soft, "Yeah. Yeah, you will," and then left his hand there; kept it there as Gen curled himself against Angeal and swallowed thickly.


	4. Something to Prove

**Title:**Something to Prove  
**Author:** joudama  
**Fandom:** Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core  
**Rating:** not worksafe  
**Warnings:** underage m/m smut  
**Word count:** 4,958  
**Summary:** This was all his fault. None of it was his fault.  
**A/N:** Yes, right, so, going to hell. Angeal is fourteen going on fifteen here, so, yes, my place in hell is assured. This despite the fact that me and porn, we're not friends. Blame "Make It Up." This is also what was alluded to in another fic, "The Scorched Earth Policy," although it seems Gen ate more Crazi-O's for breakfast than I had expected him to.

...Anyway, going to hell. Worse handbaskets to be in, I suppose. XD; And a third part is coming, since I hate sequels but rather like trilogies.

And as an aside, I've always thought Genesis skirted the edge of batshit bonkers at least once before and pulled back, so much that maybe he and Angeal thought he was actually OK...but in reality he was on a slow burn, and by the time Crisis Core happened, he just couldn't come off that precipice in the way that didn't involve drugs and men in white coats who didn't work in a ShinRa lab or a deus ex machina.

**Prompt:** Angeal/Genesis: first time - "You've got a perfect skin, with a Devil's grin."

--

Angeal _knew_ this was his fault.

He hadn't been able to help it, was the thing of it. He had his limits; _everyone_ had their limits, and he'd hit his.

It was one of the rare times that he was at the Rhapsodos house--Genesis hated being at home and would usually show up at Angeal's house or go with Angeal straight home if Genesis was having one of his frayed days. Most days Genesis would have waved good-bye after school and headed home for one of various lessons and extra preparatory tutoring his mother insisted he do, but today he'd grabbed Angeal with a "You working today?" and when Angeal said no, told him that Angeal was coming over and they'd do something after his piano lesson was done.

He did his homework while Genesis had his piano lesson, only half paying attention to the work in favor of watching Genesis going over one section repeatedly while his piano teacher instructed him on easier ways to play some progression and tips on tempo out of the corners of his eyes. Angeal didn't really understand a word of what they were saying to each other, things about crescendos and pedals and all kinds of other stuff, and couldn't tell much of a difference between Gen's playing at the beginning and the end, but that was fine--Gen and his teacher obviously could. Angeal was always kind of impressed when Genesis played--he'd had lessons since he was three and was really, really good. Gen'd always made a face when Angeal said that and blew it off as it just being lots of practice, but Angeal was pretty sure that if he'd taken lessons that long, he'd sound terrible--his fingers were just not meant to move that way. Gen's fingers were definitely a piano player's, long and graceful, but Angeal's were just...kind of stumpy and graceless, and he accepted this.

Gen bowed to his teacher when he finished the lesson, Angeal did as well just to be polite, and then they were alone.

The study in the Rhapsodos home was the only room that Genesis seemed to like, even over his own bedroom. The room was wall-to-wall books, plus the piano, and Angeal knew for a fact that Genesis had read almost every single book in there at least once, and the idea of reading _that_ many books kind of broke Angeal's brain. He'd always liked listening to Genesis reading books aloud--he had a nice voice and always had, even when he was a kid, and Angeal would always have a soft spot for Loveless just because of how Genesis had read it over and over again, his voice like a lifeline, when Angeal had been so sick that everyone had been certain he was going to die--but the thought of trying to read all those books himself made Angeal want to go run around outside and hit things with practice swords. He'd read a couple of the books Genesis would press on him in winter, when it was too cold to go out, and yeah, they were interesting at all, but...

But then, maybe if he'd grown up with the Rhapsodoses as parents, he'd have hidden himself away in all those books, too.

They were just hanging out, not doing anything special, when Mr. Rhapsodos came home. Gen had just been plucking away at the piano softly, eyes closed and humming to himself a little while Angeal was finished his--their--math homework, because Genesis hated math with a passion, and if Angeal didn't let Genesis copy his homework, he just wouldn't do it--or would do such a half-assed job of it he might as well have not even bothered. It long ago ceased being worth the fuss of telling Gen to do _all_ of his own homework, but Angeal had gotten a few concessions, which was rare with Gen but Angeal was just as stubborn, at least--now it was only math Genesis would refuse, and Gen would usually all but rewrite any papers for their literature classes Angeal tried to do, so he figured it balanced out. He usually had to yell at Gen to let him at least write the first draft of his own papers, after one paper had made Genesis hit him with the book--and it had been _hardcover_, too--and ask if he'd actually read the stupid thing.

It wasn't Angeal's fault he'd slept through, well, almost every lit class. It was right after lunch, after all, and it was _lit_. He _tried_ to stay awake, but it just didn't work very well. And Gen's notes tended to be better than anything Angeal would have taken himself, maybe even better than what the teacher had said in the first place, with little asides scribbled in on the sides pointing out parallels to and influences of other books, usually _Loveless_.

Things had been pretty...peaceful, really, Gen playing and him plodding his way through problem sets. And then Genesis' father had come in, and...

...This was Angeal's fault. It was all because he just didn't like seeing the way Gen would start shrinking in on himself sometimes, when his dad was around. Angeal had no idea how it was that Mr. Rhapsodos did it, but it was like the man managed to change Genesis from the outgoing center of attention he normally was to a depressed, angry, and withdrawn person that Angeal didn't recognize some days. And afterwards Gen was a short-tempered _disaster_, prone to lashing out at everyone and everything that got in his way. Angeal was pretty much the only person that could ride out Gen's mood when he'd been pushed too far--but it wasn't exactly something he _relished_. And he sure as Shiva didn't like dealing with the way Gen got sometimes, when he didn't go into one of his raging bad moods, but instead just looked _broken_.

In some ways, Angeal _almost_ wished Gen's parents would just _hit_ Genesis or something. At least that would be something physical to point at. But Angeal honestly didn't think they actually ever even _touched_ Genesis, which was something he just didn't get at all. Angeal's mother hugged Angeal all the time, even if it was kinda getting embarrassing nowadays, and almost every picture there was of him and Gen from when they were little kids up to now, they had arms slung around each other, and if they weren't, they were standing so close they might as well have.

They had been fast friends since the first time they had met, even if it made everyone in town scratch their heads in confusion some days and on other days, as he had overheard the old gossip grannies say, made them all hope he'd be a good influence on Genesis, because otherwise the boy was going to end up setting the whole town on fire in a fit of temper.

He wasn't being a good influence right now. In fact, right now Gen was staring at him wide-eyed and open-mouthed. But, sweet Shiva, even Angeal had a temper bomb, and it finally exploded.

The thing that had shocked him was that Mr. Rhapsodos hadn't really said much of _anything_. It was just that _look_ he gave Genesis. Gen had almost instantly started shrinking, drawing into himself in a way that just...well, it just wasn't right, and before he knew it, "What's your problem?!" had come out, and it was all downhill from there.

"I think it's time for you to go home, Angeal," Mr. Rhapsodos eventually said through thinned lips, in the _cold_ way he got when he was really angry.

Angeal sort of faltered at that, but...but what could he do? He was a guest in their home, even if he wasn't acting very guest-like and he figured his mom was gonna kill him for this, and plus Mr. Rhapsodos, for all he was a jerk, was kind of an adult.

He looked over at Gen, who was still staring wide-eyed at him. And who suddenly looked as conflicted as Angeal felt, because yeah, things were kind of tonberry or the cactuar. Gen looked over at his father and...and just sort of collapsed in on himself inside, Angeal could tell. Gen had the most expressive face Angeal had ever seen sometimes, and right now you could just tell that something inside him just kinda gave up.

And Mr. Rhapsodos looked disgusted. It only flashed on his face for a minute, but...

"I'm going home," Angeal said stiffly, his hands balling into fists. It was that or get himself into _real_ trouble. "Gen, you wanna come with or something? It should be OK with Mo--"

"He's not going anywhere," Genesis' father said sharply, and his voice was like _ice_ it was so cold, and there was something that brooked no argument in his voice. Angeal hesitated, but there was nothing he could do, he realized, and from the look on his face, Gen knew it, too.

"I...I'll see you tomorrow," he finally said, and stuffed in schoolbooks into his bag and left. He looked back before he left the room, and what he saw...it just wasn't good. There wasn't any expression at all on Gen's face--it was like everything had just been wiped off or something.

He felt like he'd seen something he shouldn't, and he _knew_ this was all his fault.

He'd had to get out of there. Things had gone...really, really badly after Angeal left. His dad had always been good at making Genesis feel like shit, but he'd gone too far this time, said things that made _red_ flare up in front of Genesis' eyes, and he'd snapped.

In the end, he'd stormed up to his room, planning to grab a change of clothes and just go, but as soon as he got there, the door slammed shut and _locked_, and his mother's voice came in from the hallway, saying she was tired of him embarrassing her all the time sneaking out and sleeping in the fields like a vagabond, and didn't he care what the rest of the town would think.

No, honestly, he didn't give a fuck what anyone in the little shitpit thought, and when he said so, well...yeah, didn't go so well. He'd sat there and just fumed, getting angrier and angrier, and it was almost scary how he stayed mad, and how it seemed to grow and feed on itself, all of his father's accusations and _insinuations_ spiraling around in his head.

It was after a point, when everything had turned into a blurry haze of _red_, that he got up and smashed the window. He'd tried slamming into the door, but it had somehow stayed shut, and he barely even felt the pain in his arm, and what little did register just made him madder. He was leaving, by the gods, and fuck everyone in the house if they tried to make him stay.

He wanted to burn everything, set the stupid house and everything in it on fire, but some small part of him got through the haze, just enough to push him elsewhere, and he started towards Angeal's house, and that was fine, great, especially after all the crap his father had been...that cold bastard had actually insinuated that...and if _that_ was how it was gonna be...

_Fine_.

Genesis was glad it was too dark to see. It was probably better that Angeal wouldn't be able to tell what he looked like, not with the way Angeal turned into a ruffled mother chocobo at everything. Some vague part of him told him his arm was bleeding from when he broke his window, but he didn't really care, especially since he might have to break another one.

Luckily, Angeal's window was open.

It was pretty late by then, and it looked like Angeal was asleep, but Genesis didn't take much care to stay quiet as he cursed his way through the window and into the room.

Angeal wasn't asleep for long and blinked kind of stupidly in the moonlight coming in as he finally focused in on Genesis, like what he was seeing wasn't quite registering.

"Gen?" he said, sounding like he wasn't even the tiniest bit fully awake.

Genesis didn't even answer, just kicked his shoes off and slid into bed with Angeal.

"...Uh, Gen?"

That was as far as Angeal got before he let out a sharp gasp, because _that_ was when Genesis got a grip on the other boy's cock. "G-Genesis? What are you doi--" he said, his voice shaky, because once Genesis got a grip, he started moving his hand up and down quickly, and there was definitely a reaction happening. _Good_.

"You complaining?" Genesis said, the sharp, feral grin knifing its way across his face the one that had once made Angeal take a couple steps back and say Gen needed to watch it with that 'looking like he was possessed by a demon' thing before people started throwing Remedies at him.

"Unh--" was all Angeal managed.

"Thought not," Genesis said, and scooted down, tugging Angeal's boxers out of the way as he did, and Angeal let out another "Unh--!" noise when Genesis wrapped his mouth around Angeal's cock.

Dammit, if his father was going to all but accuse him of doing this, he might as well be _doing_ it.

And _double_ dammit, no one was 'fighting his battles for him' as his stupid father had put it. No one had to fucking coddle him or protect him, and he'd do whatever the fuck he wanted. And if that was sucking Angeal's dick, fine, he'd suck Angeal's dick, and his dad could suck _him_, and--

--And this was not exactly comfortable, and he realized he didn't actually have the first clue how he was supposed to do this. But he couldn't exactly _stop_, not now that he'd fucking started and there was actually a _dick_--and a pretty big one; sweet Shiva, did Angeal have to be bigger than him in _every single way_?! It wasn't fair, and he was going to kick Angeal's ass just for the principle of the thing--in his _mouth_, and there was no way was he giving in to failure--he was getting angry just at the very thought of backing down. No, dammit, he was going to do this.

...Once he figured out what exactly he was doing. This was a _lot_ harder than porn had made it out to be. But he knew this was doable, and dammit, he was doing it.

Angeal was making pretty interesting noises that he was trying to muffle and his hands were gripping at the sheets tightly, so Genesis figured he had to be doing at least _okay_. Some small voice in his head said he was probably being too rough and maybe teeth were a bad idea, but then Angeal let out a sharp moan that he immediately bit his lip to try and muffle, and that definitely meant Genesis had done _something_ right, and that little voice could go _fuck itself_. Angeal was breathing hard, biting his lip to keep from making noise, and it was like for once Angeal couldn't keep still, like he was trying to but _couldn't_, and Genesis felt a smug kind of pride at that.

"Oh, shit, Gen, I'm--" Angeal let out, his voice more breath than anything else, and like that Angeal suddenly gasped and _twitched_, and Genesis didn't have much choice but to swallow, and quickly, because that stuff tasted awful, and--

--and all of a sudden what he had just done hit him and hit him _hard_, and Genesis realized with a kind of horror that he had no idea what to do anymore. The blinding rage that had gotten him this far was _gone_, leaving him with a throbbing cock, Angeal's dick still in his mouth, and a mouthful of come. What had he been thinking, he wondered, suddenly hit with a kind of paralyzed terror as the last of the red haze he had been in was replaced with a cold kind of terror, and he pulled back and reflexively swallowed the last of Angeal's--

_What in Hel's name did I just do?_, he thought, and the voice in his head was pure panic.

He had been angry and frustrated; had wanted to strike back somehow at his father, and so he had...he had..._he had just blown his best friend out of spite_.

It was like a Blizzaga was forming in his stomach, and he didn't want to think about how fucked up this was, or how mad Angeal probably was at him, and he felt a sharp spike of rage coming back, comforting in a way and a hell of a lot better than that mind-numbing fear and panic; this was his father's fault, all of it, none of this would have happened if his dad hadn't been such a _bastard_ and--and Angeal had a grip on his arm and oh, shit, that hurt, and things were going to go _badly_, he just knew it; he just knew he had screwed up and screwed _over_ the only person he gave a shit about and didn't think he was _useless_ or ignored him. Angeal hauled Genesis up, and Genesis went limply, not fighting it at all. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see how angry Angeal was. For once in his life he didn't have any words at all, because he didn't think he could manage anything coherent, not when everything was a white blank in his head, and even if there were words, there just weren't enough apologies in the world, and he'd never been good at apologies _anyway_ and--

--and Angeal was kissing him.

_He's not very good at this_, some part of Genesis thought dimly. _But then, I probably wasn't any good at that blowjob, either._

He recognized that his thoughts were approaching the hysterical, his heart jackhammering in his chest, and he grabbed for Angeal, because if there had ever been _anything_ in his life that had been stable in a good way, it was Angeal. And if Angeal was _kissing_ him, after what Genesis had just pulled, there was no way he was mad and maybe Genesis hadn't fucked things up completely and--

--and Genesis had no idea when he had started kissing back. He was pretty sure he was just as clumsily bad at this as Angeal, but he rapidly wasn't caring anymore because they were starting to figure this out somehow, and now there was a tongue in his mouth that wasn't _his_, and...and he kind of liked this. A--a _lot_.

And he definitely liked the way Angeal's skin felt under his hands; Angeal had a lot more muscle than Genesis did, from all the work he did in the orchards for extra money. Genesis had more than once the last autumn watched Angeal chopping up wood for some of the old aunties in the town for bits of change, and now he could feel what all that work had done to the muscles in Angeal's back, and what it had done was nothing but good things. He just...liked the way Angeal felt, and always had, even when they were little. It seemed like Angeal was the one person that his mother's odd _thing_ about him touching people hadn't seemed to work on. She'd made the _face_ she always did when she'd seen him touching Angeal--or anyone, for that matter--when they were kids, but it never quite seemed to work with keeping the two of them from throwing arms around each other or grabbing each other's hands when they were little kids. It was like there was "Angeal" and "everybody else" and the other rules just didn't apply.

The rules for other people definitely didn't apply _now_, because Angeal was fumbling in between them, and then his hand was on Genesis' cock. And that was when Genesis knew all too well why "Unh" had been the only thing Angeal had been capable of saying, because oh, gods, this wasn't a _single thing_ like touching himself had ever been. But it wasn't enough, wasn't quite enough, it was close but not quite, and he put his hand over Angeal's and pushed Angeal's hand the right way, _harder_, and there there _there_ like that like that like--

The noise that came out of Genesis was sharp and high-pitched, and the only thing that kept anyone else in the small house, like, oh, Angeal's _mom_, from hearing it was that Angeal's tongue was still in his mouth.

He could get used to this.

..._When did Angeal pin me like this?_ Genesis thought stupidly, when he could actually manage thought again. But there they were, he was pinned somehow under Angeal, and it should have been uncomfortable just because Angeal was a lot bigger and heavier than him. But somehow it wasn't, not right then. He suspected in a few minutes that wouldn't be the case, but for now, it was...it was almost _nice_, and the panicked part of him finally started settling down. Angeal was just _there_, like he always was, and it was almost impossible for Genesis to stay in that terrifying unsteady place when Angeal was there.

"I'm leaving," Genesis said suddenly, staring at Angeal's throat. "I can't...I can't stay here anymore." His voice was hard, but it felt like he was breaking on the inside. This place was turning him into something awful. It seemed like every day the unsteady came a little easier, lasted a little longer, took longer to get dragged back from, and the gods only knew what he might do if this kept on like this.

They were moving again, somehow, Angeal moving onto his back and taking Gen with him, so Gen was lying against Angeal in a position that was almost oddly familiar, tucked under one of Angeal's arms and his head against Angeal's chest.

...He had to leave before he did something _terrible_.

"What do you mean, you're leaving?" Angeal said softly.

"I can't stay here," Genesis said faintly. "I...I'm going to be a hero, Angeal. I'm old enough now to join ShinRa. I'm going to make a name for myself. Like...like that Sephiroth in Wutai. He's our age. If he can do it, I can, too," he said, raising his jaw.

He was going to be a hero. He was going to make things _right_ instead of fucking them all up. He'd prove it to everyone that he wasn't a fuck up and he wasn't a failure. To his dad, to his mom, to _himself_.

He was going to be the good guy, for once. Like Sephiroth.

"When?" Angeal said, his voice low. Angeal's voice seemed to rumble, when Genesis had his head against Angeal's chest like this. Angeal's voice had settled a lot faster than Genesis' own had, and for a long while Genesis hadn't thought that was fair. It also wasn't fair that Angeal was younger but he was already bigger than Genesis felt like he'd ever be, but for once it was kind of OK, and Genesis was sort of amazed at the way his brain was frenetically focusing on pretty much everything _except_ the important things--like the fact that he had just blown his best friend and then gotten a hand job and that...and that he kinda wanted to do more of that _again_, especially since Angeal _hadn't_ tried to break his face for it, or how his mouth might be about to get him in trouble again--right now.

"Tomorrow night. Don't tell anyone."

"I have to tell my mother, Gen," Angeal said faintly, and Genesis felt a wash of cold go through him. If Angeal told his mother and then his mother told his parents... "I can't leave without telling her."

Genesis went still as what Angeal said started to process. "Wh-what?"

Angeal laughed. "What, you think I'm letting you go off on some adventure and become a hero _without_ me?"

Genesis was still glad that Angeal couldn't see him, and yeah, of course Angeal wouldn't be able to see him now, the way he was burying his face in his chest like that. O-of _course_ Angeal was going to go with him--what would he do without Ange--what would _Angeal_ do without _him_? "Y-yeah, what was I thinking? You'd go crazy from boredom all by yourself."

Angeal laughed, and reached over to grab tissues to clean his hand off. "Right. But...Think you could wait a few more months? I know you're not big on your family," he said, and his words were apologetic. "But I don't think I can do that to my mom, just up and leave tomorrow. And I want to try and make some extra money for her to have while I'm gone, until I can start sending her some."

He wanted to tell Angeal no. He wanted to say if Angeal was coming with him then he'd better be ready to leave in the morning. He wanted--

"...Yeah, I guess," Genesis said in a whisper.

"Thanks," Angeal said, his hand ruffling through Genesis' hair, and Genesis closed his eyes, feeling something frantic in him finally start to calm down a little.

A few more months. Time enough to get everything ready and settled; far enough to give him something concrete to look to when things got bad, but not so far off that it was too far. He could do that. 'Cause when he left, he was leaving this shitpit for _good_.

Somehow, he thought, drifting off with Angeal's hand still stroking his hair in the comforting way that only Angeal had ever seemed to have the patience for with him, his own arm tentatively drifting to wrap across Angeal's chest, he could wait.

"...Ifrit in a rainstorm, Gen, what happened to your arm?" Angeal let out sharply, and Genesis squirmed slightly as all of a sudden his arm really started to hurt. He hadn't even really noticed it until now, but now that he had..._OW_.

"I had to get out somehow, and the window wouldn't open," he said flatly, scowling. He didn't know who had locked his window like that, or had done whatever in Hel's realm had been done to keep it shut, but this was their fault. "If the stupid window had just _opened_, I wouldn't have had to break it," he finished, scowl deepening.

Angeal groaned. "Minerva must have given up on you _years_ ago, you're such an idiot! Get up," Angeal grumbled, and shoved at Genesis to all but push him out of the bed. "Stupid moron."

Genesis couldn't see Angeal, it was too dark for that, but he knew what look Angeal had to have on his face--the prissy, scowling look he got when he was about to start mother chocoboing and lecturing--and felt a tiny smile on his face. "Fine, fine," he said, his voice sulky because if it wasn't, Angeal would think something was _wrong_.

Angeal flipped on the lamp on the nightstand and just cursed at Genesis and yeah, he had the prissy, scowling look, and a lecture was sure to follow. Some things never changed, after all, and it was...well, Genesis didn't think 'comforting' should have been the right word for the fact Angeal was about to chew him out until Genesis' eyes glazed over, but it was, because it was Angeal being _Angeal_.

"Take off your shirt and stay here, you fricking idiot, while I go get the first aid kit. Stupid moron," Angeal groused, and left. By the time he got back, Genesis had turned on the main room light and was sitting on the bed, and had somehow managed to get his shirt off--something he was glad for, because now the shirt was kind of gross--and oh _shit_ if taking it off hadn't hurt. His entire shoulder was bruised and his forearm was just...a mess. And his shirt was a big of a mess between all the blood and...and yeah. He balled it up and tossed it into the garbage can; when he had to leave in the morning he'd just take one of Angeal's old shirts or something.

Angeal took one look at the mess of Genesis' arm and got a weird look on his face, then started lecturing. ...And Genesis knew he couldn't let the weird expression trying to come out actually come out as Angeal knelt in front of him and started cleaning his arm. He shouldn't be smiling at a lecture, he knew that. He didn't say anything in his defense, though, and just watched Angeal.

He didn't really have much to say, anyway. Or much energy anymore, because next thing he knew, he was kind of listing forward until his head was resting on top of Angeal's as Angeal finished bandaging up his arm. It wasn't too comfortable, but it kind of was at the same time, and he shut his eyes and just breathed because finally, _finally_, he could relax.

He was still afraid of what he might do, what he was capable of, the way things seemed to spiral out of his control in his own head sometimes, but...but maybe it'd be ok. As long as he had this to hold onto when things got too out of control, maybe...maybe it'd be ok. He was going to make himself into a hero, into a _good_ guy, and maybe it would make him into one on the _inside_ too, and everything would be _better_.

It had to be.


	5. On the Road

**Title:** In This Together: On the Road

**Fandom:** Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

**Rating: **worksafe

**Warnings:** hints of m/m; pretty much pointless teenboy fluff

**Word count: **3,270

**Summary:** _It's not just me/We're a stubborn pair._

**Song Prompt: **Soler - Je Ngo/Jian Chi (both-written for fictunes on insanejournal)

--

When he was awake, Genesis had to be the most insanely _pretty_ person that Angeal had ever met--the first time he'd actually seen Genesis, and he remembered that day pretty clearly, he'd, peeping from around his mother's skirt and not knowing if Gen was a boy or a girl or even thinking about it one way or the other, more or less done a little kid's version of love at first sight because he'd never seen anyone so pretty. And Gen still was absolutely, stunningly _beautiful_--if that was even the right word for a guy who could, would, and if not able then at least willing to try to, kick his ass from here to Sunday and back again if Angeal was stupid enough to ever say something like that where said guy could hear him--when he was awake.

When he was asleep, well, Angeal pretty much had a hard time keeping a straight face whenever he looked at him. Genesis sprawled for one--sprawled into an ungangly, uncoordinated tangle of legs, arms, and hair. Even when they were kids, if they shared a bed Angeal would usually wake up with Gen's hair in his mouth somehow and a limb of some sort on him. Gen didn't snore, thank goodness, but...but he _drooled_--his mouth would squish open on one side where it was against the pillow--or Angeal--and in the morning either Gen'd have dried drool on his face or drool that was still a tad...fresh. And when he woke up, he could never quite get his right eye to open fully, not for a good three or four or ten minutes, giving him a sort of lopsided appearance. Gen would wake up and just blink blankly at things for a while, usually with a somewhat sullen look because there was a _sun_ out there, and that sun clearly hated him, and the feeling was more than mutual.

Genesis was not a morning person. In point of fact, he seemed to find the sheer existence of 'morning' to be a personal affront.

This was why Genesis in the morning was a thing of terror. Aside from the drool, and the eyelid thing, and the fact that his powers of speech were pretty much reduced to "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh," his hair tended to be as lopsided as the pillow made his face, and so full of tangles he'd be cursing his hairbrush for a good ten minutes. He was slouchy, baggy-eyed, grouchy, and was in general something the monsters they were running into all the time would run away from.

It was kind of cute, though, especially the way he'd rub at his right eye as if trying to open it and how that only made it gum up more at first.

And Angeal knew better than to ever say 'cute' aloud when Gen was in earshot, _especially_ in the morning. For one thing, Gen was pretty vain already, since almost everyone made a big thing out of how good-looking Genesis was--Angeal figured Gen spent more time in front of the mirror every morning than most women did, fussing with his hair. The last thing that needed was to be fed in some way.

For another thing, Genesis would probably start backing up and looking for whatever had hit Angeal with a Confuse, since it just wasn't in Angeal to start complimenting people out of the blue. Angeal had the weird feeling that since he'd never actually made that big a deal out of how stupidly pretty Genesis was, or let on that he thought it--the starry-eyedness over how pretty Gen was had well and truly died the day Gen started to eat a worm to shut Aeolus up then opened his mouth and showed the half-eaten worm to everyone as some bizarre form of _proof_; all it had proved to Angeal was that Gen needed someone to keep him from doing stupid things--Genesis wouldn't quite know what to do at getting it from him. He never had been able to really handle the rare compliment Angeal would give him, like for his piano playing, and would get flustered and blow it off. Genesis tended to need all the stability he could get, and Angeal doing things that were 'weird' freaked him out unnecessarily.

And it would especially weird him out _now_, since in the week they had been traveling, Gen had been propositioned about three or four times, and was starting to get _twitchy_.

He'd thought Gen buying himself that Fire materia at the first shop they found was a _very _bad idea, but when that one guy who had offered to _pay _Angeal for Gen ran off screaming with his eyebrows burnt off, Angeal had to admit that one, the guy had deserved it, two, Gen definitely had an affinity for fire because it took some skill to control it that well, and three, the guy was probably in better shape than he _would_ have been, because Angeal had been about to beat the guy's face in.

He'd still confiscated the materia.

"...what're you staring at?" Genesis managed slowly, the words at least grammatically correct, even if highly mumbled. His left eye was fixed on Angeal in a glare, and the right, well, was still half-gummed shut. And his lower lip was poking out.

Angeal felt his lips twist up in a smile before he could stop himself. Gen really wasn't very pretty in the mornings, but he sure was _cute_. "You look like shit in the mornings."

"Fuck you, too," Genesis said with a scowl, and that only served to make the smile on Angeal's face turn into a full-fledged grin, because it wasn't helping. "Sorry not all of us look picture-frickin'-perfect like _you _manage in the morning. Asshole." That just made Angeal laugh, because Genesis was, right then, failing completely at trying to look or sound like anything other than an adorably grumpy five-year-old.

...And that had sounded like a _compliment_ of sorts, but before what Gen had said really sank in, Gen's pillow came flying out and pegged Angeal in the face. And Angeal rolled with it, literally, falling over backwards back onto his bed at the inn exaggeratedly, and then twitching and making fake dying noises.

That worked pretty well; Genesis let out a surprised snort of laughter that turned into a real, rare, honest-to-goodness _laugh_ when Angeal twitched melodramatically, and so another day on the road began.

--

It drove Genesis absolutely _nuts_, the way everyone called Angeal 'sir.' Whenever they stopped at an inn, the innkeeper inevitably looked at Angeal and directed all the business questions to him. Everyone else could be staring at Genesis, but the shopkeepers and innkeepers took one look at how Angeal was _bigger_ and immediately assumed he was the one in charge. It wasn't fucking fair, either, especially now that Angeal was the one paying for stuff half the time, from the bounties and gil from monsters they killed on the way for practice, so now Genesis only _sometimes_ got to shoot dirty looks at the innkeepers before pointedly pulling out the money to prove that _he_ was the one whose ass they needed to be kissing.

It wasn't fair, and it was worse because Genesis could see why they did it. He didn't like to admit it even to himself, but knew he'd probably assume the same thing. He was sixteen and scrawny, even if everyone said just give it a few years and he'd be taller than anyone with his build, compared to fifteen and a half that could easily pass for older, and a build that made Angeal look like he could already be in the military with all the muscle he had from work he had done most of his life for extra money and sometimes just to help out in the orchards and around town. He was a head taller than Genesis--for _now_, Genesis thought grumpily--and looked like he could snap Genesis in half with his pinky. And on top of all that, Angeal just _radiated_ calm responsibility. He was only fifteen but was obviously already a man.

It just wasn't _fair_.

--

Leaving had already done Genesis a world of good. They had decided to take their time getting to Midgar, going by foot where they could to get practice fighting monsters. It would only take an extra month or two, three if they took the scenic route, and they both figured it was worth it, since they'd be a lot stronger when they got to Midgar to enlist. And in the three weeks they had been traveling now, they'd both gotten a lot better.

Angeal was almost afraid at how quickly Genesis was mastering his Fire materia, and how he'd started to talk about wanting to find a Firaga. Angeal didn't think Gen had the strength yet for it, but had the feeling by the time they reached Midgar, he very well might have the magical stores to do it, as much as he was improving.

But it was in Gen's demeanor that the most change had come. It was like a weight had been lifted off of him. He smiled a lot more than he had, laughed a little easier. He was starting to lose the weird _look_ that had sometimes been more in his eyes than anything else, like he was holding on by his fingernails. He was calmer, too, and that was always a good thing. Gen...Gen had been pretty scary for a while. It made an unsettling kind of fear start batting at Angeal, thinking about how close Gen had seemed to finally snapping. Maybe Gen even had snapped a little, the night he climbed in through Angeal's window with a bruised and bloodied arm and in an almost feral kind of rage.

Gen had seemed, well, a little better after he had decided he was _going_. It had almost sounded, that night after Gen got himself back together some, like he had planned on just taking off the next day on his own, and there was no way Angeal would have let him, not when Gen was like _that_--not the half-crazed he'd been, but the _brittle_ way he'd been when he said he was leaving. It was like Gen was on a precipice of some sort, and there was just no way he could let Gen throw himself off that cliff, not if there was the tiniest chance that he could help.

In his sleep, Genesis buried his face in Angeal's leg and mumbled something incoherent. And Angeal kept watch, both on the horizon to make sure no monsters would come and on Gen drooling on his leg.

He laughed a little to himself, and patted Gen's head. And even in his sleep, Gen turned towards his hand, starved and demanding as ever for touch and attention, and no...Angeal wouldn't let him go off that cliff. Not alone.

--

"You stupid fucking idiot!" Angeal yelled, and Genesis just glared.

"What are you yelling for? We killed it, didn't we?" Genesis said, feeling himself getting angry. He preferred angry, a lot, over the shaking fear and panic of just a few moments before. They hadn't been strong enough to fight that monster, and it had been sheer dumb luck that they won--if the monster hadn't missed when it had, they'd have been pretty much dead. As it was it was a near thing; they were out of potions and ethers and too exhausted to cast Cure.

But Angeal _wasn't _too tired to yell apparently, and Genesis knew he _deserved_ it, he _knew_ it, but honestly, couldn't Angeal cut him some slack? No, instead Angeal was in his face, actually yelling so much he was literally red in the face_._

And Genesis was yelling back, because fuck, he wasn't just going to let Angeal make him feel like shit. It wasn't his fault, by the gods; they didn't have Libra so just he hadn't _known_ how strong that thing had been.

So he was yelling, Angeal was yelling, and then suddenly...suddenly Angeal was _hugging_ him. Genesis went stiff at first from the sheer surprise of it, and then it was like all his energy was just _gone_ and his head dropped against Angeal's shoulder. Both of them were shaking, but it was OK. It was OK now. They were still alive. They'd won, it was _OK_. He shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around Angeal and clutched at Angeal's shirt then sagged against him, letting Angeal take his weight.

"I thought you were gonna _die_. I thought _we_ were gonna die," Angeal said, his voice jagged.

_I'm sorry,_ Genesis thought, hugging Angeal tighter to keep from shaking more, but the words never came out.

Besides, it didn't really feel like he needed to say it anyway.

--

"What're you writing?" Genesis finally asked, and Angeal smiled to himself. Gen had been peeping over from the bed he was sprawled out on now that they had finally found a town and an inn. He'd been technically reading, but it was more like he was fidgeting than anything else, and would look over at Angeal impatiently every once in a while. And Angeal just kept on writing.

"A letter to my mom," he answered. "Letting her know how we're doing. I'm sure she's worried."

"Oh. Tell her I said hi," Genesis said. "And that I won't let any monsters eat her pwecious widdle boy," he ended with a wicked smile.

Angeal was glad he had extra paper; he tended to need it to ball up and throw at Genesis' head.

"...How the fuck did you hit me from there?" Genesis grumbled.

"Years of practice."

Genesis snickered at that, then rolled his eyes.

And Angeal decided he might as well _try_. "There's lots of paper and we're in town. Maybe you should drop your parents a note. Just to let them know you're OK."

As always, it was a bad idea to bring up Genesis' family, but Hel's realm, he _had_ to try.

Genesis just scowled into his book. "I'm sure they don't care. And I _know_ my dad doesn't want to hear from me." All of a sudden, Genesis looked up and _smiled_, and _that_ was _not_ good. "Not after what I told him before we left."

Angeal blinked, and then thought back to the day they left, and..._uh oh_.

"...Genesis, what did you say to your father?" Angeal said, a sinking feeling in his stomach because that grin, that was the not-boding-well grin.

That grin widening didn't help the sinking feeling. In fact, it made things _worse_.

"I just told him he was right, that I _was _sucking your dick. And that I'd let you fuck me up the ass over the piano the day before."

"You told him WHAT?!" Angeal yelped, the pen dropping out of his hand and his jaw dropping along with it. He could feel the blood draining out of his face, because oh _gods_, that _would_ explain the look on Mr. Rhapsodos' face, and...and...and that piano thing had been _Genesis'_ idea, not his, and...and ok, yeah, it had been hot and all, but...oh Hel's realm, if his _mom _found out... "You _didn't_."

Genesis' grin got bigger and more disturbing, and Angeal knew that he _had_.

--

The only one who'd ever really been any good at getting him to laugh--honestly _laugh_--was Angeal, and Genesis had no idea how he did it.

Angeal was as serious as they came--so serious that Genesis had once heard Angeal's own mother chide him and say he was "eight going on eighty-eight." And he pretty much had been then and still was now; the only people who liked to lecture more were the old grannies at the shops and their teachers. But he was still the only person that could make Genesis actually laugh out loud.

It always caught Genesis by surprise when it happened. He did laugh at things, of course, although it was usually _at_ other people, not with them. But the only person to say things so out-and-out _funny_--and almost never at anyone's expense save Angeal's own was the wonder--that Genesis would have to cover his mouth was Angeal. He couldn't figure out what it was that made what came out of Angeal's mouth so _funny, _but he kind of wondered if it might be because Angeal was the only person who had never _tried_ to get a reaction out of him, never tried to get something out it. Or maybe it was that Angeal was so understated and serious that the things that came out of his mouth just seemed extra hilarious. So Genesis would be laughing his head off and Angeal would have a little grin and maybe a chuckle that was more at Genesis' reaction than anything else, and anyone else around just looked puzzled over what had set Genesis off like that.

Genesis wasn't used to laughing out loud; no one really laughed in his house growing up, and Genesis had always kept himself slightly separate from everyone aside from when he had some use for them, and he'd learned a long time ago how effective a little smile of distant amusement could be if timed right--how people would bend over backwards almost to do what he wanted.

But Angeal was different somehow. That had never worked on Angeal--the few times he'd tried Angeal would roll his eyes or give him a funny look and then cuff him or put him in a headlock and tell him to cut it out--and more than that, Genesis didn't really _want_ it to. It was kind of nice, in a weird way, that Angeal saw through it. He didn't have to be fake around him.

Genesis had no idea how it was Angeal managed to put him in the position he was in now, one hand braced against a tree for support and laughing so hard his stomach _hurt_ and there were tears in his eyes.

But all in all, it didn't bear too much thinking about, because it was a pretty nice place to be.

--

They could see Midgar from a distance, had been able to for a while, and it was getting close.

Genesis looked more and more excited the closer they got, and Angeal felt kind of excited too...but some part of him almost felt sad that they were almost there. If they'd pressed through the night, they probably could have gotten there by the time dawn came, but when Angeal suggested they make camp and leave out early the next morning, Genesis had agreed.

It almost made him wonder if maybe Genesis wanted to hang back a little, too.

So they'd made camp and eaten and talked about how close they were, and eventually everything fell into a comfortable silence where they hadn't had to say much of anything at all to each other.

Night had fallen but Gen was still awake, reading _Loveless_, the only book he'd been able to bring with them. Things had been too busy most days for him to read, and there was enough light with the campfire and the lantern they had picked up early in on the trip.

Angeal stared at the fire, his head on Gen's lap and Gen's hand in his hair; Gen's voice reading aloud soft and comforting. He could feel himself drifting off to sleep and didn't fight it.

They'd get to Midgar tomorrow, and see what their future held.

--


	6. Letters Home

**Title:** Letters Home**  
Rating:** PG**  
Warnings:** none**  
Word count:** 3,370ish**  
Prompt: **Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth: first impressions**  
Summary:** Well, he promised he'd write.**  
A/N: **This was written for areyougame on insanejournal, but was due on the 9th. Work went psycho crazy the last few weeks and I've been pulling a lot of overtime. Which meant, alas, so writing time for me. ;_; So this was a bit rushed--there was a lot more I wanted to do with it, but alas.

--

Dear Momma,

How are you? I hope things are going well. I'm not very good at this letter-

writing thing, but I promised I'd write, and I will.

Me and Genesis are doing OK. Gen's got his nose stuck in a book, so I figured

this was a good time to at least start on a letter.

The trip has been interesting so far. Gen got himself a fire materia a week or

so ago, and has only burned one guy's eyebrows off (he deserved it) and hasn't

set anything on fire yet. (I have a Cure materia because I figured better safe

than sorry. Gen called me a wuss, but I told him I'd remember that if he set is

hair on fire or something). We decided to take our time, since Gen wants to

learn how to use that Fire materia and I figure it'd probably be a good idea to

not be near any populated areas until he does. And we kind of want to see

everything outside of Banora.

I know you're from Midgar, so maybe its boring, but we've never been anywhere

but Banora, so this is all really new to me and Gen. There are a whole lot of

monsters out here. So far, they haven't been a problem, and Gen's happy because

he's getting a lot of practice with that materia. We've gotten quite a bit of gil

from selling the relatively unburnt monster bits (I'll try to send you some money

after we get to Midgar. At this rate, it should be OK).

...I keep the Cure equipped all the time, just in case.

Take Care,

Angeal

--

Dear Momma,

How are you doing? Sorry I didn't get to talk to you long when I called,

but you wouldn't believe the lines for the phones in basic training. I heard

that if you make SOLDIER and get high enough in, they give you your

own PHS (regs say you can't have one unless ShinRa issues you one. I

don't get it), and that's reason enough to hurry up and get into SOLDIER.

If I never have to wait in the phone line again, it'll be too soon. It's probably

just going to be letters for a while.

Once we get through basic training, we'll find out if we're eligible for

SOLIDER. Testing for it seems pretty rigorous, but Gen says we shouldn't

have a problem. You know Gen, so you can figure out how he put all that.

I have no idea how that guy manages to always make so many friends even

though he spends the majority of his time either insulting everything or

ignoring it as not worth his time. 'Asshole charm', I guess (and don't tell him

I said that). It works on me, after all.

Oh, and one of the other weird regs is that you can only speak Standard.

You can't even use it on your off time. Some guys already got busted for

speaking Costan when they were on break. ShinRa's really strict with it,

too. The guys that got caught got KP duty and loss of privileges, so they

can't leave the training camp to go into Midgar at all or use the company

phones for three weeks. Hopefully, just slipping up with a word or two

might be OK.

Boot camp isn't so bad. It's no fun, not by any stretch of the imagination,

but I figure all the monster-killing me and Gen did on the way out here really

helped us. We seem to be doing a lot better than all the other recruits, and by

pretty big margins. I think Gen's right when he says we probably won't have

any problems getting into SOLIDER, since everyone else is saying we're

shoo-ins. I'm just going to wait and see.

And Gen just threw a paper ball at my head, so I think he wants something.

This letter is starting to get pretty long anyway, so I'll just go ahead and end

it here. Take care, and hopefully I'll be able to come out and visit soon.

Oh, and I'm including the leftover money from all the monster hunting I did

before I got to Midgar. We get our first paycheck soon, so I'm fine.

Love,

Angeal

--

Dear Momma,

We're in!

We met the doctor in charge of us in the SOLDIER project, and I've never

seen Gen get so wide-eyed before. It was the doctor who came to Banora

all those years ago, when I was sick. I didn't recognize him at first, but

Gen knew who he was as soon as he saw him. I still don't really remember

him at all, and he seemed kind of disappointed by that for some reason. I

felt bad that I didn't remember him at all, but Gen smacked me and told me

I'd nearly died and Dr. Hollander only showed up when everyone else had

written me off as a goner, and I hadn't been awake for most of when Dr.

Hollander was there. And I guess he's right, but I still feel guilty, especially

if he did save my life.

I guess maybe that's why he's in charge of us, and not Professor Hojo, like

most of the SOLDIER program. He won't say why he's in charge, he just

says we're a special case, and we're lucky not to have to deal with Hojo.

He seems OK, if a bit strange, but "a bit strange" seems to sum up everything

at ShinRa. I just wish he wouldn't smile at me so much. It's weird.

And I'm sorry this is a short letter. I've got to get some sleep soon, since

I've got to be up at five in the morning, and if I don't mail this before I

report in, only the gods know when I'll be able to, since we're slated to

start our mako treatments tomorrow, and we'll be pretty out of commission

until they're done.

Oh, and Dr. Hollander said to tell you he sends his regards.

Love,

Angeal

--

Momma,

I don't have much time to write. This is a really quick letter, and I'm

mailing it in the next ten minutes. They gave me thirty minutes to get my

gear ready since I'm shipping out to Wutai now that the treatments are over.

So sorry this is so short.

The mako treatments were like the Kindly Ones' own torment, and I am

glad they're over. But I've got shiny eyes now and am a lot stronger and faster.

It's kind of amazing, and I can't wait to see what I can do out there in Wutai.

I do wish we'd had more training time, but the program is still so new there's

not much in place yet. Basic plus the VR training will hopefully have been

enough.

Oh, and they're splitting me and Gen up for some reason. He's going to the

northern part of Wutai, and I'm being sent to the south.

Gen did not explode (much, and it was more fuming than twitching temper-

bomb), so he's growing up.

And I've got to go. I'll write again as soon as I can. I love you, and take care.

Love,

Angeal

--

Dear Momma,

It's been a while since I wrote. I'm sorry about that, but things have been

pretty rough for a while. Plus, I was in Wutai until about a week ago, so I

didn't know if a letter would get through, since mail delivery from Wutai

is pretty hit-or-miss, and not just because of ShinRa having problems, but

because anything with a ShinRa logo on it is fair game for the Wutai. We're

having troubles just getting supplies in, and I've been on escort duty for

new squads more than once. Mail and shipping is actually a big target,

since we've been sending so much materia out for the scientists in Midgar

to study. The Wutai are trying to keep us from shipping it, or the damned

weeds they use to poison us, out, and so mail and shipping trucks and planes

get targeted. We've been told not to write letters that much, just because

they can't guarantee them. I'd wonder about that, since they're so strict

on all kinds of communication (I'm still stuck with the public lines for

the phones, which is why I haven't been able to at least call, either. They're

even spottier than the mail), except I've seen the Wutai bomb the daylights

out of our trucks.

A lot's happened since the last letter. Gen's in Wutai, too, but a different

part. I haven't heard from him in a while. Hopefully, he's OK. I'm one more

promotion away from getting my Official ShinRa PHS soon enough, and by

then I should be able to get a hold of him. I'm just going to tell myself no

news is good news. He took one of his books with him, and Gen's always

happy as long as he has a book to stick his nose in, and it's not like Gen ever

hurts for company, as sociable as he is. Still, the sooner I can hear from him,

the happier I'll be. He's my best friend, and I miss him. I miss you, too, and I

am sorry I couldn't get in contact with you sooner. I'll brave the phone lines

soon and try to call you or something.

Speaking of friends, I met Sephiroth while I was in Wutai a few months ago. We

were assigned to the same group going in to the southern part of Wutai. It's been

tough fighting out here. The Yamatan Wutai are pretty fierce. Most of the ninjas

are from down there, and they're big on suicide missions. It's crazy. But it's

also way too effective. If one of their suiciders gets in the right position, it can

do a terrifying amount of damage. Sephiroth and I are OK, since we're SOLDIERS,

but some of the regular troopers don't fare so well.

Like I was saying, I met Sephiroth down here. He seemed so stiff when I first

met him, but a couple missions out, and he loosened up, some. But there's

nothing like suiciders and explosions for bonding experiences. That, and the

common ground of the mess food tasting like a science lab experiment gone

wrong. Sephiroth assures me that even Professor Hojo's flan experiments weren't

as gloppy as whatever it was they tried to serve us last night, even though he

says its a pretty near thing.

Sephiroth is...I don't quite know, but he and Genesis are an awful lot alike.

Which is funny, because they're about as different as two people can be, aside

from both of them being too pretty for their own good (and c'mon, you know

Gen is too pretty; he had half the town wrapped around his itty bitty finger and

the other half wanted to smack him. And the funny thing with Sephiroth is, I

don't think he has any idea what he looks like to other people, and seeing how

Gen is, I don't get at all how he grew up looking like he does and not being a

spoiled brat. ...Don't tell Gen I said that. I like breathing.)

Anyway, Sephiroth is really quiet, like he's always thinking. You can't tell

what's going on in that head of his. He's hard to get to know, like he doesn't

quite know how to deal with people. He's great and fighting, but not so good with

other human interactions. But he has got a wicked sense of humor (just look at the

Hojo flan thing), once you get in past that armor he's got.

I guess that's why he reminds me of Gen. Both of them, armor half a meter thick.

And they both get that same surprised look when you make them laugh, like they

weren't expecting it. Sephiroth doesn't laugh the way Gen does--I swear,

sometimes I thought Gen was gonna rupture something--but I don't think he's ever

laughed much, which is a shame. He cracks a smile and seems so surprised by it,

and just blinks for a second. Momma, he's more serious than me, and even I know

how bad that is. I don't think the guy has ever had friends.

Guess I better do something about that, huh? It took years of Gen to mellow me

out, though, so only the gods know what Sephiroth would need. I'm thinking

alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Take care, and I'll write you soon.

Love,

Angeal

--

Dear Momma,

Gen and Sephiroth met today, and it was a disaster. I don't have any other

words for it. I'm writing you because right now, I'm trying to avoid the

both of them, especially Gen.

I'm actually kind of worried about Gen. Sephiroth and I ended up working

with each other a lot, but Genesis was by himself, and he apparently spent

way too much time with Loveless. I'm not sure how to explain it or even

what I'm trying to say. But...the war can make you crazy, Momma. I tried

not to really talk about all the bad things over here, things I've seen...I couldn't.

I wrote you when I needed some normalcy. I wrote you so many letters that

never got sent, just to keep myself from cracking up some days at all of it.

I had letters to you, and Sephiroth to talk to, but Gen didn't have anything but

that poem. And Gen was out in Wutai a lot longer than me. He's been in

Gwongnaam because he's being doing a good job stomping down the

resistance out there, but the problem is, war's...well, it's war. It's hard on

even the most stable people, and Gen's Gen. He's high-strung, and with as

hard as the fighting in Yamato and Chochung have been on me, I can only

imagine what it's been like on Gen to be in a place where it's so intense he's

barely been able to deploy back to Midgar to decompress. I talk to him when

I can, now that I've finally got a PHS, but most of the time, he's alone, and it's

hard. He's says he's fine, and the war and the fighting are no big deal, but I

don't know.

It was because of the way Gen was starting to get weird that I really wanted

him and Sephiroth to meet. Gen's looked up to Sephiroth for a long time,

(and Sephiroth had said he wanted to meet Gen, with all the running off at

the mouth I did about him, even though he was nicer about how he put it),

and I figured maybe it'd be good for Gen to have someone else to talk to who

understands what it's like out there. We're finally all in Midgar at the same

time, so I figured now was a good time to do it. It was Gen's first day back,

so I figured the three of us going out for dinner far, far from the ShinRa mess

would be a good way for them to get to know each other.

I goofed up and how. Maybe because they're so much alike but also really,

really different. And it doesn't help that Sephiroth is really aloof. It took

me a long time to get him to warm up some. Gen is used to people

falling all over themselves to get his attention, and Sephiroth is just not

that kind of person. He comes off as cold, and you know how Gen is

with people like that. And Sephiroth has his quirks you have to get used

to, but Gen took all of them badly. Sephiroth has this way of looking at

someone like they're a bug sometimes, and Gen's eye was twitching.

Sephiroth's also not really used to someone like Gen, that much was

obvious. Genesis is used to being the center of attention, but in a good

way, and is also kind of an attention whore (don't tell him I said that), and

Sephiroth just isn't used to that kind of person. So Gen got the bug-stare

one too many times, maybe, and to things most normal people find amusing

or endearing. So Sephiroth got that irritated glare Gen is so good at, and

that got more bug-stare, and it was all downhill from there. I think the low

point was when Gen broke his glass because his hand twitched too hard, and

then Sephiroth just raised his eyebrow and smirked and, oh Minerva. I don't

want to think about it any more. It was bad.

But past the surface bit and how opposite they seem, they're so much alike,

that I'm honestly surprised how Gen reacted to him, especially since Gen's

wanted to meet Sephiroth for so long. Well, they met, and Gen has been

fuming about what an asshole Sephiroth is, and I have no idea why things

crashed and burned. Other than the bug-stare and the glaring and Sephiroth

needs to learn that smirk of his can be as bad as fighting words.

Still...I think they just got off on the wrong foot, and hopefully a few more

meetings will get them back on track. It takes Sephiroth a long time to warm

up to people, is all, and if there's anybody who is good at getting people to

warm up to them, it's Gen. But I'm thinking next time there needs to be a lot of

alcohol involved next time. Maybe getting the two of them drunk together

will work better. Alcohol or sparring. But definitely not food. Restaurants

are out for a while, if for no other reason than replacing all the broken glasses

and bent cutlery, plus the cleaning bills (don't ask; sweet Faunus Pan, I'm

trying to blank it out) would start to get expensive.

Sephiroth needs friends, and Gen needs...well, he's Gen, he has people

around him all the time, but it's not like he has friends. I will somehow

get the two of them to give it another go. I like the both of them, and want

them to get along, for my sanity's sake if nothing else. I think they just

rubbed each other the wrong way (Sephiroth is pretty serious and glares a

lot, and the frowning glare of his sort of reminded me of Mr. Rhapsodos at one

point, and if I thought that, Gen had to, and that's just a bad foot right there,

even if it is the way Sephiroth looks when he's trying to figure out something,

and I really don't think Sephiroth has ever been around anyone like Genesis

before, just going by the bits and pieces I've gotten out of him. Did you know

he grew up in Hojo's lab? And seeing how strange Professor Hojo seems to

be, a lot of why Sephiroth seems so unused to people makes sense, and tells

me the guy needs more human interaction. It's weird, but I really think I'm the

first friend he's ever had, and that's just got to change) and once they get to

know each other, they'll get along really well. I just have to try a little harder.

Wish me luck and maybe send me some apple ale to smooth the way.

Angeal

PS - Speaking of Mr. Rhapsodos, has Gen written his family once since we

got here? I ask him, but you know him--he changes the subject or flat-out

ignores things. Let me know, and if he hasn't, I'll make him write them so

they at least know he's not dead in a Wutai ditch somewhere.

-A

--

Dear Mother and Father,

Angeal is making me write this. He threatened to sit on me if I didn't write you

or something to let you know I was still alive, and since the jerk has put on

about 15 kilo of muscle in the last two years, I can't take the risk.

Don't worry, you don't need to write me back. I think we would all prefer if

you didn't.

As you can see, I'm alive. I've been promoted again to Class 1st, one of only three,

me, Angeal, and Sephiroth, and am leading my own battalion, and will soon be

redeployed back to Wutai. Pretty good for someone who couldn't 'stand up for

himself' eh? I've even got a fan club now, so it looks like we all know what people

think of me now.

And I'll be sure to send you a copy of the literary review magazine that's going

to publish something I wrote on 'Loveless' while I as deployed so you can show

it off to people. All that time with my "nose stuck in a book" seems to have

worked out pretty well for me.

So I'm fine. Life is great. Don't expect to see me anytime soon.

Genesis

PS. I'm still sucking his cock, Dad. Mmm, cock.

-your son


End file.
